Vienna Art Guide - October

I.

Exhibition: Traces of Time
Artists: Mladen Bizumic, Cäcilia Brown, Andreas Fogarasi, Sofie Thorsen, Kay Walkowiak, Anita Witek
Venue: Leopold Museum
Date: October 20th, 2017 to February 20th, 2018

This exhibition focuses on contemporary artistic strategies dedicated to exploring and questioning visual culture. Their emphasis is on the construction of visual aspects in art, photography and architecture, as well as in everyday objects. The featured works show that rather than merely establishing facts, documentation is now characterized by an open-mindedness that focuses on the construction of perception and culture.

Image © Anita Witek with kind support of http://letrangere.net/artist/anita-witek

II.

Exhibition: BC21 Art Award 2017
Artists: Judith Fegerl, Anja Ronacher, Toni Schmale, Anne Speier
Venue: 21er Haus
Dates: September 20 to Novemer 19

For the sixth time, the Boston consulting Group (BCG) and the Belvedere are granting the BC21 Art Award. The works by the four artists nominated for the grant are on view at 21er Haus.  There artists are Judith Fegerl (born 1977), Anja Ronacher (born 1979), Toni Schmale (born 1980), and Anne Speier (born 1977), who all live and work in Vienna. The laureate will be chosen at the beginning of October 2017. This exhibition is curated by Luisa Ziaja.

Image: Toni Schmale © Belvedere, Vienna

III.

Exhibition: The Power of Transformation
Artists: Peter Paul Rubens
Venue: Kunst Historisches Museum Wien
Dates: October 17 to January 21

This exhibition shows 70 loans from the world´s foremost collections such as the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Prado in Madrid and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a star during his lifetime, and he remains a star today. His name is synonymous with an entire period in art history – the Baroque. Masterpieces are shown here in the context of Rubens' preparatory drawings, oil sketches, panel paintings and canvases.

Image: Peter Paul Rubens

Take a tour with Itai in Vienna to discover more!

Tel Aviv Art Guide - October

This October in Tel Aviv, there are plenty of opportunities waiting for you to enjoy. Don’t let the end of the summer fool you – the streets of Tel Aviv remain hot from all the action!

I.

Alternative Tel Aviv Pay as you Like Florentin Graffiti Tour
Friday, October 13th 11:00-12:30

After a summer break we are back with our all-time favorite tour, offered in the most convenient way – The Florentin Graffiti tour, pay as you like! For all of you passing through in Tel Aviv, or those living here who still haven’t had the chance to check us out – this is the time to make the introduction. The tour will introduce you to the local street art scene and it’s most iconic figures. 
To book spots for the tour contact us at alternativetlv@gmail.com.

II.

Dan Gallery finds a new spot on the street
124 Ben Yehuda street, Tel Aviv

Dan Gallery, a well-known and well-established figure in the local art scene, has found a new home. While they have exhibited pieces by street artists in the past, it looks like the niche might be expanding, as they now have formed quite the team – established artists like Dede and UNTAY alongside emerging new talents such as GAB. Don’t miss the Dede bandaids on the façade!

III.

Dioz and the Synagogue in Florentin

Earlier this summer, Dioz, a figurative street artist and an AlternativeTLV favorite, created a stunning vibrant large scale mural on the synagogue wall on Abarbanel street. Sadly the piece was partially “buffed” (covered). The two lower thirds of the wall were painted a cold, boring shade of grey… Maybe winter is coming after all? 

Paris Art Guide - October

October is definitely the busiest month in Paris for the arts, thanks to the Fiac (October 19-22) that brings the biggest international collectors and renowned museum curators to town. Both contemporary art museums and galleries tend to schedule their best shows of the year during this time. But as many of them do not open before October 17th, take the time to enjoy Summer shows and Fall festivals before they close!  

I. 

Exhibition: Irving Penn
Artist: Irving Penn
Venue: Grand Palais
Date: until January 29th, 2018

A major retrospective of the American photographer just opened at the Grand Palais, 8 years after his death. It is the first time the Irving Penn Foundation and the MET have worked together to show such a large body of work abroad. Irving Penn worked for Vogue US, Harper’s Bazaar and Saks Fifth Avenue, but at the time neither fashion photography nor magazine reportage were considered as art. If you’re into black and white photography and the icons of the 20th century, this one is a must see. 

II.

Exhibition: Kiefer-Rodin
Artists: Auguste Rodin and Anselm Kiefer
Venue: Musée Rodin
Dates: Until October 22nd

If you haven’t seen it, do not miss this beautiful exhibition putting two major sculptors of modern times face to face. It was quite a challenge to juxtapose Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) with Anselm Kiefer (born in 1945) - one died in France during WWI, the second was born in Germany just after WWII. But when you see the strength of raw materials, how the hand treats the human figure and the mise-en-scene both sculptors use in some installations, it seems like an obvious pairing. This exhibition is a beautiful ode to sculpture and European history of the 19-20th centuries. 

Image: http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en/exhibition/exposition/kiefer-rodin

III.

Exhibition: Biennale des photographes du monde arabe contemporain
Artists: Various Artists
Venue: Various Venues
Date: Until November 12th 

L’Ima (Institut du monde arabe) and la Maison européenne de la photographie (Mep) have put together the second biennale of contemporary photographers from the Arab world. Hicham Benohoud, Farida Hamak and Xenia Nikolskaya question the arabic identity at the Mep (7 rue de Fourcy, 75004), while Galerie Photo12 is showing David Aron’s pictures from Tanger and Galerie Binôme has « The third image » on display with two young artists, Sara Naim (born in Syria in 1987) and Mustafa Azeroual (Franco-Moroccan, 1979). 

Image: Randa Mirza , Residence - Beirutopia Series (2011 - current project) © Courtesy Galerie Thierry Marlat

Take a tour with Judith in Paris to discover more!

Brussels Art Guide - October

I.

Exhibition title: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Urban Projects
Artists:  Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Venue: ING Art Center
Dates:  October 25th, 2017 to February 25th, 2018

To evoke a number of urban projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the exhibition explores a careful selection of around eighty original works, whether or not these were ever carried out, ranging from Wall of Oil Barrels (Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62) up to the important urban project, The Gates, that Christo and Jeanne-Claude realized for the city of New York in 2005. These urban works of art were created by temporarily appropriating buildings, monuments or public places with a deeply symbolic value. 

image: https://about.ing.be/About-ING/Art/Christo-Jeanne-Claude.-Urban-Projects.htm

II.

Exhibition title: Ways of Seeing
Artists: Ghada Amer, Chris Bond, Frédéric Borgella, Thierry Bosquet, James Casebere, David Claerbout, Jojakim Cortis & Adrian Sonderegger, Salvador Dali, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Mona Hatoum, Jeppe Hein, Paul et Marlene Kos, Alicja Kwade, Gustav Metzger, Herman Moll, Shana Moulton, Vik Muniz, Grayson Perry, Walid Raad, Fred Sandback, Hassan Sharif, Cindy Sherman, Markus Schinwald, Kim Tschang-Yeul, James Turrell, Kara Walker, James Webb. 
Venue: Fondation Boghossian, Villa Empain
Dates: Until February 18, 2018 

Taking its cue from John Berger’s 1972 seminal text on visual culture, Ways of Seeing explores the various formalistic strategies that artists employ to re-configure our perception of the world. Ways of Seeing features 27 artists and artist collectives, and consists of 70 works, spanning a variety of media from painting, sculpture and photography to sound, film and installation. It facilitates a return towards a vision of artists as makers of things, who relentlessly remind us that the connection between what we see and what we know is never settled, and that seeing is, at its core, a political act.

image: http://www.villaempain.com/en/20-septembre-2017-exposition-ways-of-seeing/

Take a private tour with Jacinthe in Brussels to discover more!

Melbourne Art Guide - October

I.

Exhibition: Coney Island  
Artists: John Aslanidis, Angela Brennan, Sadie Chandler, Renee Cosgrave, David Harley, Matthew Johnson, Wilma Tabacco  
Venue: Counihan Gallery
Dates: Until October 29th

Coney Island presents artists working with the language of abstract painting. Curator Jane O’Neill has brought in artists from various stages in their careers, for example established abstract painter Angela Brennan showing alongside mid-career painter Renee Cosgrave. Jane sees each artist tackle the project of abstraction in an entirely personal way, building upon his or her own history of looking and making work. While recognizing each artist’s individual approach to abstraction, the exhibition also celebrates shared interests; between consistent patterning and loose compositions; between hard-edged painting and softer bruised lines. Just as we are drawn to the flickering lights and optical illusions fabricated in amusement parks, Coney Island designates the gallery as a space for the reception of lights, colours and lines. 

Image: Renee Cosgrave, Tribal Lung 2015. oil on wood, 40 x 30 cm.  Courtesy of the artist. 

II.

Exhibition: The Small Sword  
Artist: Brent Harris  
Venue: Tolarno Galleries  
Dates: Until November 4th

Brent Harris’ paintings and works on paper are brooding, dripping swamplands delineated in the most meticulous way.  In Harris’ paintings, pictorial elements appear and compositions evolve through process-based methods. Elements of his compositions are built upon or worked over: for example, a smudge may develop into a figure, or be painted away. For his new exhibition The Small Sword, Harris presents a series of eleven new paintings where flat delineated areas of colour, intuitive mark making and figuration borne with a graphic sensibility form tight yet fluidly organic compositions. The figuration is barely realist - emergent imagery plays with symbolic meaning and various narratives related to our unconscious emerge but remain contingent.  

Image: Brent Harris, the small sword, installation view. © Tolarno Galleries 2017.  Exhibition: dissolve  Artist: Adam John Cullen  Venue: Gertrude Glasshouse  Dates: 7 – 28 October

III.

Exhibition: Dissolve  
Artist: Adam John Cullen  
Venue: Gertrude Glasshouse  
Dates: October 7th to October 28th, 2017

Gertrude Contemporary is a respected non-profit art gallery and artist studio complex that has been supporting emerging and experimental art practice in Melbourne for over 30 years. Their competitive and sought after studio program offers sixteen non-residential studio spaces to artists on two-year tenures. In 2011, Gertrude Contemporary opened a smaller gallery in Collingwood called Gertrude Glasshouse, which focuses on presenting solo exhibitions by artists that are part of their studio program. One of the current studio artists – Adam John Cullen – will be exhibiting in October. Adam works with sculpture, often employing industrial materials in new and experimental ways – for example, pouring concrete into molds that solidify as forms sometimes mimicking objects that exist in the real world. Often reusing old works within new works, his process is gritty, mixing different textures and resolving each work by being open to chance occurrences that play out with the materials construction and deconstruction. Cullen’s material investigations engage with ideas about consumption and waste, and his sculptural works and installations are often multi-layered and compelling.

Image: Adam John Cullen, Certain Remnants, installation view, Primavera 2017: Young Australian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2017, hydrostone, plaster, oxide, cotton, marble, limestone, image courtesy the artist and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia © the artist, photograph: Jessica Maurer

Take a tour with Charlotte in Melbourne to discover more! 

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Banner image: Angela Brennan, An Open Future 2012. Oil on linen, 180 x 220 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Niagara Galleries, Melbourne.