Art History

Along the Yangzi River:
Regional Culture of the Bronze Age from Hunan
China Institute in America
25 East 65th St, between Lexington and Park Avenues
Review by Patricia Karetzky
January 27, 2011 – June 12, 2011

Bronze Elephant

The China Institute is once again hosting a marvelous exhibition of the most precious objects lent from China. These ancient bronzes from the Hunan Provincial Museum are over three thousand years old. Beautiful and skillfully crafted, the bronze vessels, which represent a regional culture of the south, are a unique interpretation of local beliefs and decorative preferences. The rare elephant-shaped container, nearly 9 inches tall, is encrusted with a design comprising dozens of animals, making it especially fit for ritual use–it is a sort of gravy boat fashioned to hold liquids in its wide body with a lid and its trunk is the spout. A square bronze vessel nearly 16 inches tall has on each of its long sides, the image of a human face that menacingly looks out at the viewer. In addition there are dozens of finely crafted articles for the heating, mixing and drinking of wine as well as an assortment of tripods and large bowls for the preparation and serving of food. Several large size bells are also on view.  In the darkly lit gallery, these ritual articles provide a real insight into the nature of sacred rituals in ancient China.

Patricia Karetzky reviews: A Prince’s Manuscript Unbound: Muhammad Juki’s ‘Shahnamah’
725 Park Avenue and East 70th Street
February 9 – May 1, 2011

The show at the Asia Society Museum exhibits a very excellent illustrated Persian manuscript dating to the 15th century. The tome, on loan from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, is an illuminated 15th-century volume. Commissioned by the Timurid prince Muhammad Juki (1402-1444), it has more than 30 delicate, polychrome and gold miniatures that are scenes  from the Shahnamah (Book of Kings). In book formation the illustrations are accompanied by long passages of beautifully written text. Often set in landscapes, the works are lively interpretations of the privileged life of the Timurd princes – their costumes, jewels, weapons, palaces and more.

A second show slated for Exhibition at the Asia Society Museum on Gandharan Art, largely Buddhist stone bas relief sculptures dating from the 2nd to 4th century CE, has been indefinitely postponed due to difficulties with lenders in Pakistan.

Peggy Bacon: Illustrator

Show curated by the students in Tom Wolf’s seminar American Women Artists

Peggy Bacon, Kitten

Stevenson Library, Bard College
Faculty Advisor: Tom Wolf

Wednesday April 20-May 8

Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 20, 5-7 pm

Peggy Bacon (1895-1987) was an American painter, printmaker, writer and illustrator.

Zhang Dali at Eli Klein Fine Art
http://www.elikleinfineart.com/html/exhibinfo.asp?exnum=734|
462 West Broadway NY NY 10012
April 4th – May 8^th

Zhang Dali: New Slogan

Zhang Dali has a show in Soho, New Slogan, which is a further development in his painting series AK47. Zhang first won acclaim as a graffiti artist who from 1995-1998 secretly spray painted his profile on 2000 buildings slated for destruction in Beijing. A form of social protest, it remonstrated the government’s policy of tearing down the old buildings and neighborhoods (hutong) in favor of western style shopping malls and apartment complexes. This series, whose origins date back nearly a decade, takes homeless rural migrants living on the margins of society as the subject of large-scale portraits painted on vinyl. The monochrome images are exacting close-up and frontal depictions that have the immediacy of portraits, or more likely mug shots, that commemorate the unknown denizens of the city. In the early version of the series, Zhang painted over the images a veil of block printed letters –AK47- that looks, in the uniformity and repetition of the motif, like a written page of text.  The phrase AK47, also one of his monikers, is a protest of world violence. From a distance, the paintings seem like skilled portraits, it is only up lose that the tension between the graphic surface design and image is appreciable. New Slogan, which also uses using migrant workers as models differs in the text that covers the image: the veil is now comprised of slogans from the Cultural Revolution sometimes in Chinese: “Practicing good manners leads to a beautiful life” or “Promote Socialism and the construction of a harmonious society”. The intimations of the series are deep and layered ranging from a remonstrance of the urban social problems of homelessness and the manipulation of a society denied freedom of expression, and more.

Summer internship and study tour program available in the beautiful Roman and Medieval city of Lincoln in the UK.

For more information please visit:   www.bishopg.ac.uk/hiddentreasures

REVAMPING A. Lincoln

The Metamorphosis of Lincolnalia in the 20th Century
Curated by Hannah Becker
Faculty Sponsor: Tom Wolf

An Exhibition of Abraham Lincoln collectibles from the private collection of senior art history major Hannah Becker, on view in the vitrines in Stevenson Library:  March 29-April 7, 2011
Opening reception: March 29th 4:00-5:00 pm

Fernando Ruíz Lorenzo and Tom Wolf

FERNANDO RUÍZ LORENZO: ESCRITURA

The opening reception on March 9th in The Reem Kayden Gallery was a resounding success.  An insightful talk by the artist was followed by lively discussion.  To view more of the images please go to Vin Zarate’s FlickR site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vinroc55/sets/

MAN ABOUT TOWN

February 20, 2011

The art season in NYC is going full swing, and there are plenty of interesting shows to see in Chelsea.

Koh and his white salt cone

Walk into the Mary Boone Gallery, and if you are already familiar with it you notice that the anteroom has been stripped down—no Corbusier easy chairs for the moment—and a white curtain separates you from the main space.  White is one of the themes of Terrence Koh’s show in the central gallery (541 W. 24^th, through March 19).  The expansive room is dominated by a huge cone made up of thousands of chunks of salt.  The artist, gaunt faced, short haired, dressed all in white, shuffles around the cone on his knees with an expressionless face.  His progression must be painful to his knees, and exhausting.  While I was there he once stopped and lay face down on the floor, before raising himself up and resuming his slow progress.  Spectators are silent watching this rituali, which follows the practice of physically punishing performances by Vito Acconci, Chris Burton, Marina Abramovic among others.   Self-abuse in the name of art was once shocking but now has become a tradition; with his white color scheme and his meditative progress around the cone, Koh turns it into an exercise of renunciation with spiritual overtones.  I returned two weeks later and it looked like Koh had kneepads under his white pants, and he had shaved his head, making him seem even more Zen monk-like. Although he has cultivated an image in the art world as a scenester, here he makes an analogy between art and worship, and it is impressive to watch his determined round.

For sheer extravagance, check out Francesco Vezzoli’s Christian-kitsch

Crying Portrait of Kim Alexis as a Renaissance Madonna with Holy Child, 2010

extravaganza, Sacrilegio, at Gagosian Gallery’s 21^st Street space (522 W. 21^st, through March 12).  The main gallery is laid out like the aisle of a church with images of the Virgin and Child in the side apses.  The icons are photos of paintings by Italian Renaissance masters like Giovanni Bellini, with the Madonna’s face replaced by those of fashion models like Claudia Schiffer and Stephanie Seymour.  Tears, embroidered out of thread, emanate stiffly from the eyes of mother and child.  These confections are surrounded by gold gilt frames that droop and ooze like Dali’s watches.  The whole ensemble culminates with a stained glass window featuring Vezzoli as Saint John the Baptist, but carrying a big embroidering needle and thread in place of the Saint’s long cross; a side aisle contains a film of the artist’s mother as the Madonna singing a pop song, “Domenica” by the Singing Nun.  Where does this guy get his budget!?

Taller Puertorriqueño’s
Meet the Author Series at
Julia de Burgos Books and Crafts Stores presents

A SURVEY OF PUERTO RICAN ART
a lecture by Dr. Susan Aberth

Saturday, march 12, 2011, 3:00 pm

A sweeping panorama of art production in Puerto Rico beginning with José Campeche in the 18th century and ending with contemporary artists, including Pepón Osorio, who now resides in Philadelphia, PA, in addition to Francisco Oller, Ramón Frade, Miguel Pou, Carlos Raquel Rivera, Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Tufiño, Myrna Báez, Arnaldo Roche-Rabell, Juan Sánchez, and Miguel Luciano. The list includes many who have exhibited in Taller’s gallery.

CAA’s two Directories of Graduate Programs in the Arts, covering MA, MFA, and PhD programs in art and art history, are now on sale: $15 for CAA members and $20 for nonmembers, plus $4 shipping.

For those of you in the process of applying to graduate school, these directories remain the most comprehensive resources available listing hundreds of programs in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere worldwide. CAA will introduce revised, online versions of the directories in fall 2011, with a price to be determined.

For more information go to:
http://www.collegeart.org/news/2010/12/15/sale-on-caas-directories-of-graduate-programs-in-the-arts/