Paris Photo worries

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Geneva wondering whther I'll be able to get back to Paris on Wednesday for Paris Photo. I'm in Switzerland to attend the opening of a Ray K. Metzker show at Bill Ewing's Musee d'Elysee tomorrow(more on that in a dedicated post), but it is a question mark whether I'll be able to get back to France. The reason is a threatened general strike in France that has been completely under or un-reported in english language news sources. It threatens to grind Paris to a standstill if the rail and metro workers walk off their jobs tomorrow as promised. A similar event last month lasted only a day and yet took 3-4 days to untangle.

I'm worried for the success of Paris Photo and all my friends who have come here to sell, exhibit, or look at photography. Fingers crossed. The art world doesn't need another underperforming fair right now. I wonder how many collectors and art professionals are travelling to France unaware that they will meet a sea of stranded people at the airport all trying to get into the city?

I'll let you know how it goes.

Musings from a trip to Japan(II) Naoshima

I had never heard of Naoshima. Most of the art lovers I know have never heard of Naoshima. When I heard that the ICP trip was going to include a multi-leg, expensive trip to the site as part of its Japan trip, I said, "where?".

Well, there is definitely there there in Naoshima. (For a broader overview, go to http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/503/art.asp). It is simply the most remarkable synthesis of art, architecture, and nature I am likely to see. Broadly, one can break down the components of Naoshima into 4 categories: traditional Japanese houses given over to installations, outdoor installations, custom museums, and the hotel/spa/museum combo of Benesse House.

The most amazing one of these for me was the Tadao Ando-designed Chichu Museum. One walks up a small hill to enter a museum that is built almost entirely below ground. You enter at ground level at the crest of the hill after walking past Monet-like water lily ponds. These ponds are no accident for one discovers a room of late Monet water lily paintings set in a room that has been lit entirely with deflected daylight. One realizes that you have never seen paintings like these in natural light unless you are a billionaire collector. They hardly seemed real. But what made this place unforgettable was the synthesis of the architecture to the art of James Turrell and Walter de Maria. Mr Ando had created spaces in this maze-like cavern specifically to house and show these specific works. I've never been in a structure that was built to show half a dozen art works that are permanent and never meant to be rotated. It's a kind of commitment that I found awe-inspiring.

At every turn, Mr. Ando found a way to show you the art in some kind of optimal view, give you a feeling of spaciousness and contact with nature, and at the same time utterly controlling every view and angle. It's an experiential orgy. The building is built in such a way that there is no clear plumb line. You walk up or down a set of stairs and feel yourself to be on level ground, yet every thing you see tells your mind that the real world could be canted this way or that. You know which way is up since there are abundant sky views cut into the structure (including a prayer inspiring room for a Turrell sky painting), but other than that you are in M.C. Escher territory.

There is some debate about whether the architecture is the real star; whether the building so overshadows the art, that one only sees the building. For me this was not the case. I was stunned at how integrated the building and art were. I couldn't imagine one without the other. They seemed perfectly balanced. I've often said that DIA Foundation in Beacon, NY is the perfect place to see certain art. If you don't enjoy Sandback and Serra at DIA, then these artists will probably never speak to you. I felt the same way here. Turrell and de Maria will never have stronger advocates than the experience of this place. It shows their art to best possible effect and even makes it more than you thought it was.

There is so much more to report on about Naoshima, but I'll cut it a bit short here. I could fuss about the hotel rooms, I could extol the beauty of the George Ricky outdoor installations, I could swoon over the Miyajima and Turrell japanese house installations, and I could testify about the Hiroshi Sugimoto temple construction. But I won't. Naoshima is there to be seen and lived in. Describing it diminishes it somehow. It is a place art lovers should really try to just go to. It's a lot of work and bother, and it's not cheap, but it's a place like no other. In an art world that is always under threat of homogenization and global blandness, it's great to see a place that celebrates its sui generis status while being a forum for international art. Check it out.

Musings from a trip to Japan (I) Hatakeyama

Entrance to the Takahashi Collection

Up the stairs in an industrial building

Ritzy view from entrance of Takahashi Collection building

My reward for navigating and climbing. Complete "Slow Glass"


My first exposure to the work of Naoya Hatakeyama was at a Christies auction about two years ago. There were two prints from his "Slow Glass" series that attracted my eye and had a $4000-6000 estimate. I didn't know anything about what was behind the work. When the pair of photographs more than doubled their low estimate at the sale, I wondered who is this guy?

The next chapter in my Hatakeyama saga comes from Christopher Phillips, curator at ICP and well-known Asian photography scholar. We went through a number of Hatakeyama's books together. Christopher explained some of the underpinnings of the work, and took time to map out the inter-connectedness of of many of the series. I was hooked, but I had seen the majority of his opus only in book form.

Fast forward to a trip I took last month with ICP led by Christopher. I had the opportunity to see much of Mr. Hatakeyama's work first-hand. The photographs did not disappoint. What a marvelous, complex, and varied artist this man is. And combined with that, the physical reality of the prints is sumptuous and luxurious to the eye; something the books only hint at.

My first view of Hatakeyama on the trip was at the Obiyashi Collection. This is a private collection compiled by the owner of an international construction firm. He commissioned Tadao Ando to build a guest house/private museum space in a quiet, upscale residential neighborhood in Tokyo. When we were there, the installation was 100% Hatakeyama. The extra treat was that Hatakeyama-san was there to meet us and to talk a bit about his work.

Mr. Obiyashi clearly understands this art in that much of it is serial in nature. Where possible, he has collected and exhibited entire series. It was wonderful to see complete "River Series", "River Series Shadow", and "Bird". Also on view were examples of "Slow Glass", "Underground", and "Blast Series". My favorite was a small room dedicated to a collection of small "Light box/Maquettes". Mr. Hatakeyama explained that he had wanted to do an architectural project where the lights of the building were illuminated from the inside. However, when he tried to make his first attempts, he found that the light box made the black areas too gray. He experimented until he found a solution in binding a negative and a postive together. The light still emanates through the "light" areas but the blacks are dense and dark. It's dramatic work that needs to be seen first-hand.

A later stop on the trip was to Taka Ishii Gallery, which represents Hatakeyama. We saw new work from Brazil(I can't wait to see more of this), examples from the "Lime Works" series, and a few from the "Underground" series. While Hatakeyama is virtually unknown in the US, his presence in Japan and Europe is well-established. There just isn't that much work to be found on the market, so it was a pleasure to see a small trove at Taka Ishii.

On my own after the group had headed back to the states, I ventured to see the Takahashi Collection. They had an installation of the complete "Slow Glass" series. The gallery scene in Tokyo is not what Americans are used to seeing. There is no real gallery district like Chelsea, and often gallery spaces are in rather remote areas of the city in buildings that make west Chelsea look ritzy. There are also more private collections on view in private museum spaces than a US visitor would expect. While the trappings of these spaces aren't always luxurious, the art inside can be fatntastic.

This was the case here. After struggling to find the place with GPS-equipped cab driver, I wandered up a truly industrial stairwell that led me to a stunning array of Hatakeyama "Slow Glass". The introduction to the exhibit was a transcription of a talk on the work that Hatakeyama gave in Germany. I had never read such a complete and clear overview of the substance of this work. Its basis is a sci-fi short story in which a new glass is invented that absorbs time. An image or light goes in one side of the glass and is "read" on the other side seconds, minutes, or years later. Hatakeyama takes this as a metaphor for photography but adds a complexity that seduces. He was in residence in an English town that had been the subject/victim of intense urban planning. While the roads had been planned to make for total ease of driving without jams, it also made almost no space for pedestrian traffic. Hatakeyama used this layout to drive in a car and photograph desolate, people-less landscapes through rain streaked windsheilds; the slow glass. The images are haunting, beautiful, expressive, and intellectually engaging. I love them. I wish more Americans could see them like this.

Silverstein Photography Annual

I was glad I caught the last day of the first Silverstein Photography Annual at Bruce Silverstein's gallery. He had a marvelous idea: invite ten curators to each nominate one less-well-known artist to be shown in the gallery. This is such a fresh idea and one that makes me smile. New York galleries are not strangers to the idea of inviting up and comers, recent MFAs, or newly hot artists to exhibit. But this had a different feel. I really felt that this was an opportunity to be introduced to some work that I ordinarily wouldn't see and that wouldn't easily get so much wall space in Chelsea. Of course, Mr. Silverstein is in business, and the work was for sale, but overall the show had a generous feel. It was almost irrelevant whether one liked the art, it was just good to be there. I also liked that the gallery devoted space for multiple works by each artist. One had at least a clue if the artist was on to a good idea or just made one pretty photo.

The list of curators/nominators was:

Philip Brookman, Corcoran Gallery
Joshua Chuang, Yale University Art Gallery
Julian Cox, High Museum of Art
Jeffrey Hoone, Light Work
Lisa Hostetler, Milwaukee Art Museum
Carol McCusker, Museum of Photographic Arts
Miriam Romais, En Foco
Britt Salvesen, Center for Creative Photography
Rod Slemmons, Museum of Contemporary Photography
Anne Tucker, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The photographers were:

Noelle Tan
Phillip Pisciotta
Barret Oliver
Zoë Sheehan Saldaña
Sonja Thomsen
Lisa Robinson
Lola Flash
Michael Lundgren
Curtis Mann
Will Michels

I was especially taken by Noelle Tan and Michael Lundgren's work, but, as I said, picking or rating this one or that one would be beside the point. The spirit of this group show took the day. Mr. Silverstein calls it the first SPA. I hope he's right and we can look forward to a second.

A shameless plug

Be on the lookout for the December issue of Black and White magazine. I am interviewed in the Collector Closeup section by Shawn O'Sullivan. What fun.....

Berlin Art Fairs part 2

Of course, there was more to see than just emerging artists. I knew I could count on Rudolph Kicken to have a scintillating booth filled with a combination of stellar names and less-well-known artists. Of the first type, there were wonderful examples of New Objectivity school and an array of first class photos of Christer Strömholm. Also, I was taken by a beautiful and powerful photo by Ryuji Miyamoto.

Of the second type, there was a very large scale installation by the art couple Anna and Bernhard Blume. I was unfamiliar with their work. I was told that this work is in the collection of MoMA and that they are better known in European collections. This work was from the 80's. I was surprised by the scale(over 10 feet high and at least 20 feet across), and the surreal and serial nature of the work. I had not seen anything quite like it. I will be looking to learn more about this work.


I was really impressed by the show at Postmasters this past year of the young artist, Anthony Goicolea. Aurel Scheibler Gallery (http://www.aurelscheibler.com/) had a larger scale work from that show. It was a standout.


Galerie Anhava from Helsinki had a strong showing you would expect from Helsinki school artists (www.anhava.com). Of particular note for me was the work of Pertti Kekarainen. The series on view was of hallways and glass doorways filled with light and geometric forms. These are "straight" photographs that compel with their formal rigor and luminous aspect. Unlike so much work that I commented on from day one in berlin, this work has the appearance of 3 dimensions while existing in the traditional 2 dimensions of a photo. One can walk into these photos. They may be a little emotionally cool for some tastes, but I like them alot.

Berlin Art Fairs part 1

I spent the last 5 days at the Berlin art fair, Art Forum, and the 3 concurrent satellite fairs: Preview, Berliner Liste, and Kunstsalon. I came for Art Forum for the first time last year and loved it so much, I made a point of coming back this year. Berlin is a wonderful place for art fairs. There are so many interesting large scale buildings and sites it seems that looking at the venues becomes part of the adventure. Art Forum takes place in the Berlin Messe Halle (as it did last year). The website describes the venue as having "spacious exhibition halls with 15m ceilings and natural lighting along with the Palais am Funkturm built in the 1950s providing an ideal setting for the experimental display stands and lounge designs typically found at ART FORUM BERLIN". It's a beautiful and spacious place to see art. The 3 satellites were all at different venues from last year. Preview was at a hanger at the famed Tempelhof airport. Liste and Kunstsalon were at repurposed industrial sites. They all have a scale and atmosphere that I simply don't see at other cities' art fairs.

Another pleasure of Art Forum is that it has a truly adventurous spirit. There is much less "blue chip" art on display than at the other big city fairs. This means the satellites aren't a ghetto for younger artists and experimental work. Of course, this means that there's a lot of art that misses the mark or is not destined for bigger things. Great! The whole weekend feels like one big studio visit. Left and right one is exposed to unfamiliar work. If this was ever the goal of Art Basel, FIAC, and Art Cologne, it is now long gone at those fairs. In the same spirit -- and maybe because there has been such a mushrooming of new galleries in Berlin -- there are a lot of smaller and unfamiliar galleries at these fairs.

It seemed that there were some ideas or materials that were popping up in more than a few places. I saw a LOT of work that used mirrors - photos on mirrors, sculpture made with mirrors, mirrors incorporated into a variety of genres. It's not like this is a new idea, but I believe I was seeing more of it than I've seen for awhile.

Another form I saw many times was the architectural maquette. At Kunstsalon, one gallery had a model that must have been 2yards x 3 yards and showed a city block both in exterior and in cross-section. But there were 2 examples that I thought were particularly noteworthy. One was at Zak Gallery, a newer entry on the Berlin Linienstrasse (http://www.zak-gallery.com/). The artist is Szymon Kobylarz. The website describes the work accurately as follows:
"The series Architektura, consists in part of paper models based on existing buildings in Polish cities. By accelerating the effects of time upon them, and by exposing them to the effects of water and fire, Kobylarz reduces the models to rubble. As though the buildings were predestined to collapse even before their construction, the models – no longer immaculate proposals for the future – have already collapsed. They remind us that even our most stable and concrete buildings are less than certain, indeed, less than enduring. "

The other maquettes I saw were the work of Maurice Van Tellingen at Ulrich Mueller Berlin (http://www.ullrichmuellerberlin.de/). Mr. van Tellingen makes a combination open light box/interior maquette that he combines with a small speaker to make an arresting small wall envirnment. They were beautiful and engaging.

Have I forgotten that this is a photoblog? No. But this three dimensional approach also found its way into a lot of photographic work.

Ji Yeon Heo (http://www.galerie-schuster.de/)is a recent graduate from the class of Thomas Ruff. She employs the technique made famous by John Baldessari of using photos laminated onto foamcore in order to create a multi-layered photographic surface. Here are two views of the same work that show the literal depth of her work.

Her models are mannequins and her tableaux are scenes that recall soap operas or perhaps the covers of dime store novels of the 50's á la Thomas Allen. To my eyes, the work seems fresh and intriguing though rooted in multiple art traditions. I am eager to watch as she develops.

Those who remember William Ewing's "Re-Generation" show at Aperture will recall Martina Sauter's 3-dimensional explorations of cinematic frames combined with a mundane domestic frame. The best of them are thought provoking to me.

At Brussels gallery L'Usine, Jean Charles Delange explores 3 dimensionality by creating a sandwiched sculpture of glass, and then photographing the object with various lighting and angles. In the first image, the sculpture is displayed in front of the photo it generated. One sculpture can yield multiple photographic works as these two images demonstrate:



Artist Frederic D. from Berlin gallery "Nice and Fit" (http://www.niceandfitgallery.com/) had a large scale work mounted to sheets of plastic. The result was surprisingly evocative. There was a craquellin effect on the surface of the plastic plus the surface of the plastic was wavy and textured. The subject of the work was a woman the artist had encountered by chance, but her affect was one of Madonna-like grace taken from 17th century painting. I'm not one to advocate technique over content, but this seemed like a happy marriage.

But the real find for me was Thorsten Brinkman. I first saw his work at the booth of Kunstagenten gallery at last year's Kunstsalon. This year year the gallery was showing at Preview. Mr. Brinkman creates whole environments. He builds the booth like a diorama in a natural history museum. He uses found elements of carpeting, rugs, paneling.....junk, to make sculpture, furniture, and atmosphere. But the stars of the show are the photographs. He makes self-portraits adorning himself with he same junk that fills the "room" and then positions himself in mock heroic classical poses. The result is a a scene that riffs on classical architecture, classical paiting, and classical decor. It's witty and fun with a sarcastic and serious underside that invites lots of further study and reflection. I'm hooked.