Contemporary February In Madrid

February is definitely  the month of contemporary art in Madrid. There are so many art events and exhibitions that you may have a problem to choose and the feeling that you need more time! 

Since you are more interested in contemporary art don’t miss the most relevant event in Spain of the year and one of the most relevant art fairs in Europe: ARCOmadrid. In February 22-27 2017 Arco will bring together a total of 200 galleries, of which 160 form part of the General Program, as well as the curated sections: ´Argentina at ARCO´, with a selection of 12 galleries; ´Dialogues´, with 11 galleries and ´Opening´, with 17 galleries.

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ARCOmadrid

Art galleries: We recommend a walk in the Salesas neighbourhood to visit three examples of the Madrid contemporary art: (i) Juana de Aizpuru gallery with the exhibition of the Spanish artist Cristina Lucas (born in 1973) until March 18th, (ii) the gallery of Max Estrella with the exhibition of the international Daniel Canogar until March 25th or (iii) the amazing exhibition of Miriam Bäckström at the gallery of Elba Benitez (you will love the beautiful patio) until February 11th. 

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Miriam Bäckström at Elba Benitez

Museums and art centers: The museum Queen Sofia exhibition called Fictions and Territories to take place until 13 March presents a series of recent acquisitions for its permanent collection. The group of works are related to each other through language and artistic practices from the late 90's to 2007 and are of multiple origins around the world.

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Exhibition view. Territories and Fictions. Thinking a New Way of the World, 2016

- by Maria Manjón Rodríguez

A short gallery hop in Zurich!

I’m pleased to introduce a few exhibitions worth seeing in Zürich currently, to highlight the diversity and scope of art in just a few galleries; from emerging to established, modern to contemporary; design, sculpture, photography, painting, video, installation, and sometimes all these interwoven into a single artist’s practice!

Mai 36
Koenraad Dedobbeleer (until 4 March)

Mai 36 is one of Zürich’s most established galleries, founded in 1987 by Victor Gisler. The gallery represents many great Contemporary artists such as John Baldessari, Franz Akermann and Thomas Ruff, as well as significant Artist Estates such as Robert Mapplethorpe, Luigi Ghirri and Peter Hujar, which reveals the gallery’s leanings towards the photographic medium. 

The gallery recently opened “Koenraad Dedobbeleer: Images Entertain Thought” that incorporates sculptures, installations and photographs full of associations, witty commentaries with art historical references. Dedobbeleer focuses on everyday objects, which he modifies and re-contextualises. These transformations prompt the viewer to question the essential quality of things and their existence within newly created frames of reference, allowing for a variety of interpretations. The exhibition comprises 40 analogue photographs, which are often the result of a reproduction of a reproduction. When observing the prints closely, occasionally one sees lines across an image where the quality has been compromised or other imperfections. Here, the artist may have photographed an image from a magazine or from his iPhone. Dedobbeleer enjoys this element of guile, also the layering, the subtle shifts in seemingly identical images and the dialogue between different objects. Most of all, as in the title “Images Entertain Thought”, he hopes these images will be the starting point for the viewer to make unexpected associations and discoveries. 

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Koenraad Dedobbeleer, installation view of “Considered Unrepresentative”, 2016
Courtesy of Mai 36, © Koenraad Debdobbeleer

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Koenraad Dedobbeleer, “Serve” 2016 triptych
Courtesy of Mai 36, © Koenraad Debdobbeleer

Galerie Edwynn Houk
Lillian Basssman (extended until 18 February)

The Edwynn Houk gallery was founded in 1980. Since then, the gallery has specialised in vintage photographs by leading figures from the Modernist movement. The gallery has represented the Estate of Brassaï, Bill Brandt, Dorothea Lange, André Kertész, Ilse Bing and the Robert Frank Archive. Houk also runs a strong Contemporary programme representing artists such as Lalla Essaydi, Abelardo Morell and Sally Mann. Their main space is in New York, and in 2010, they opened this second gallery in Zürich. 

Edwynn Houk’s current exhibition presents Lillian Bassman’s elegant and dream-like fashion photographs. Bassman’s images appeared on the pages of Harper’s Bazaar from the late 1940s to 1960s. She trained and worked under famed art director Alexey Brodovitch. Having abandoned photography for two decades, in the 1990s Bassman returned to her old negatives and re-interpreted them. She changed the original framing, accentuated contrast and softness and retouched areas. They became far more abstract and daring, leading to a renewed interest in her photography among editors, curators and collectors. She told the New York Times in a 1997 interview that she wanted to “take the hardness out of photography” in order to make it less literal, which she accomplished using darkroom techniques such as bleaching, dodging and burning with selective focus. She can be credited for introducing a new aesthetic in fashion photography. 

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Lillian Bassman exhibition installation view
© Lillian Bassman Estate / Courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery

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Lillian Bassman, “Black with one white glove, Barbara Mullen, dress by Christian Dior, New York, Harper's Bazaar”, 1950
© Lillian Bassman Estate / Courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery

BolteLang
Anyway Part Of It (until 4 March)

Bolte Lang was founded in 2008 by Anna Bolte and Chaja Lang. The gallery shows a variety of emerging artists working with all media from sculpture and installation to painting, drawing, collage, photography and film, often with a focus on material and studio practice. 

The gallery’s newly opened exhibition “Anyway Part Of It” was curated by Jeanette Apitz, a collector of design objects, who invited internationally recognised designers Kueng Caputo and Clémence Seilles, as well as fine artist Patrick Hari to collaborate on this project. 

When entering the gallery - dimly lit by Kueng Caputo sculptural light bulb pieces (“A piece of Wall”, 2014) - one encounters an array of colourful objects, textures and sound. In the front room, a selection of the designers’ latest works are arranged to create a platform for the music performance. Speakers, acoustic panels, lighting, room dividers, stage props and a lonely microphone are carefully arranged, creating a stage without performers. The music playing is by singers that were censored in different countries, making a statement for the freedom of musical expression. Venturing further into the gallery is a pure delight for the senses. Typeface letters are scattered on the floor and travertine bowls are placed above, elegant rock stools along the wall with the introduction of movement via a circular hanging mobile that gently turns. The third room hosts a large sculptural work by artist Patrick Hari entitled “Muppet Villa – Dreaming Alone is a Boring Land”. A large wooden structure, it hints at function but simultaneously denies any use. His use of different materials and the sculpture’s suggestion of a domestic microcosmos creates a playful dialogue with the design pieces. A common thread running through all their practices is the focus on material with a high level of craftsmanship.  

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Anyway Part Of It exhibition installation view
Courtesy of BolteLang, © Kueng Caputo & Clémence Seilles

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Patrick Hari, “Muppet Villa - Dreaming Alone Is A Boring Land”, 2017
Courtesy of BolteLang, © Patrick Hari

HAUSER + WIRTH
RODNEY GRAHAM (until 11 March) 
HENRY MOORE (until 11 March) 

Hauser & Wirth need little introduction, an international gallery devoted to Contemporary and Modern art, founded in Zürich by Iwan and Manuela Wirth and Ursula Huser in 1992. It is a global enterprise with spaces in Zürich, London, New York, Los Angeles and Somerset, UK. The gallery represents over sixty established and emerging artists, and several reputable Artist Estates such as the Louise Bourgois Studio, the Estate of Philip Guston and the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. 

Hauser & Wirth in Zürich currently presents two very different exhibitions, Vancouver-based contemporary artist Rodney Graham on the ground floor and early works on paper by the late British artist Henry Moore on the second floor. On entering the formidable ground floor space, within the Löwenbrau complex, we encounter Rodney Graham’s large-scale photographic lightboxes comprising highly detailed, allegorical and witty compositions. Each image is a fictional self-portrait with the artist in costume portraying a variety of characters. From the elaborate props to the intricate costumes and stage sets, each scene is executed with great precision and technical skill. In “Antiquarian Sleeping in His Shop” (2017), where Graham plays a collector sleeping amongst his many precious objects, it feels as though one could reach into the frame and pick an item from a shelf, peer a little closer even and read the titles on the book spines. Since the 1980s, Graham has developed his diverse practice to encompass photography, painting, sculpture, film, video and music. 

Then walking up to the gallery’s second floor space one discovers what feels like a small-scale museum exhibition, “Henry Moore: Myths and Poetry”, curated by his daughter Mary Moore. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s early works on paper (1940s – early 1950s) and includes poetry magazine covers, illustrations for poems by Herbert Read and sketches, exploring the graphic side of Moore’s practice. In addition to etchings, lithographs and drawings, several sculptures are also on view including a large-scale work carved from Elmwood that has not been exhibited since the 1950s. One of the highlights of this exhibition is the supporting archival material on show including Moore’s tools, personal possessions such as books and chairs, photographs of the artist in his studio and correspondence with friends such as W.H. Auden and Herbert Read. This offers an intimate view of a great artist with a unique glimpse into his private space and early working practices. 

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Installation view of Rodney Graham, “Media Studies 77”, 2016
Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth, © Rodney Graham

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Henry Moore, “Cover Design for Contemporary Poetry and Prose”, 1937
Reproduced with permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. Courtesy Hauser & Wirth

- by Diana Poole

* Cover pic: Rodney Graham, “Antiquarian Sleeping in his Shop”, 2017
Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth, © Rodney Graham

Get A life Vivienne Westwood exhibition at K11 Museum

 I grew up in a small, provincial town in Israel, and when I turned 10, the first shopping mall was opened in the city center. Though I was young, I already understood that it was the first step towards what I like to refer to as the “beginning of the end”. Ever since, this small town’s urban developments have started to move in the same direction as that of the notorious shopping center. Naturally, the same thing happened to all mega cities, medium sized towns and urban hubs globally.  Everyone and everything started to mobilize itself around one thing: consumption.
 
In my last 5 years living in Shanghai, I unfortunately got used to the concept of shopping malls. I even visited some of them out of my own free will a couple of times—mostly due to extreme weather conditions—and I must admit, I started to become slightly fond of them.  Soft music,  smooth escalators, temperature control; they all became a break away from Shanghai’s hectic streets. As my boyfriend would say “the transformation is complete, you are a true Asian”. So on a rainy cold winter day, I went to check out Vivienne Westwood’s exhibition Get a Life in K11 Art Mall Museum.  

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When consumption became a part of culture, it was almost inevitable that culture would mirror consumption. The second step in the “beginning of the end” is manifested through the soft power of real estate developers implementing “creative concepts” in luxury shopping malls and commercial centers. Hence, creating “cultural experiences” within a maze of endless shopping arcades designed only to make you forget that there is an actual world out there so that you can spend all of your monthly salary on unnecessary, but oh-so-beautiful designer shit you don't need. K11’s concept is all about that.
 
The high-end art mall concept facilitates a blend of shopping and art—which actually means that they got tax reduction, and we get crappy art in return.
 
The K in K11 stands for Kingdom, “a shopping mall kingdom” which derives from the group’s chairman and his childhood dream of having his own kingdom—and indeed, in mega-capitalist-non-democratic-Asia, shopping malls have had more influence than the state. In this political climate, when as a citizen you cannot vote or elect a ruling candidate or party, the only way one can practice his opinions, decision making and rights is through his credit card.
 
Promising the blend of art and fashion, K11 mall is able to do so by dedicating designated spaces in the mall for decorative art works like benches, sculptures and some interactive corners; while at the same time running a foundation that sponsors art initiatives, workshops and exhibitions. The large exhibition space, K11 Museum is located, on the lowest floor of the building (where else?) and can be easily used as a bunker in case North Korea decides to fight capitalism. Most art shows and activities take place there and change every 3 months.

Get a Life, by Vivienne Westwood is “a fusion of art and fashion, through the lens of activism” and that is exactly its main problem. Westwood’s moral, socio-political “topics worth fighting for” change according to the seasons. 2014 was the year of climate change, now, the hot topic is refugees. Leave African women  aside—their saggy handmade bags and micro financing is so 2012.

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The show unveils themed collection campaigns from climate change to over-consumption: Saving The Rainforests, Mirroring The World or Intellectuals Unite. You’ve got to give credit to the marketing department of Vivienne Westwood and without a doubt, the designer herself (who actually looks like a pretty cool, opinionated woman). It is a great opportunity to see vibrant, bad-ass immigrant inspired images taken by Jurgen Teller for her latest campaign, as well as a few other samples from past collections. Especially the one dedicated to the House of Worth, the Englishman who invented the concept of Haute couture back in 19th century France.

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The room next to Westwood’s show presents a group exhibition, Monument of the Peach Blossom Valley, which tries to underpin the activist spirit of Get a Life from a Chinese perspective.

Here again, in a slightly more humble or submissive manner, artists express their concern for humanity and its relationship with nature. The only concern I had was, what the hell is the connection between those two shows? There were a few interesting, emerging young Chinese artists like Yu Honglei and Zhang Rui whose works are typically visually and intellectually stimulating, however, in this almost random curatorial context it was impossible to be impressed or intrigued. 

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Wu Junyong, Flying Ark

These two exhibitions somehow mirror each other, in my opinion. They got me thinking that maybe I am traditionalist or old fashioned; but perhaps there are things that don’t blend—art and shopping, fashion and activism, capitalist-consumerism and moral-political campaigns.
To quote Guy Debord from The Society of The Spectacle: “In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation.”
 
I came down to the K11 mall again to write this post and sat down in a high-end cafeteria concept cafe (like everything in the high-end era we live in), situated in the ground floor of the shopping mall. During my stay, a homeless man came to sit at a table next to me.

At first, I didn't notice from his appearance that he was homeless, but the strong scent coming from him disclosed it immediately. He was wearing a heavy wool jacket suit and a vintage Christmas sweater underneath. He used a rope to tie up his pants closer to his waist. He sat down holding an old chewy piece of meat and started talking to himself. I couldn't stop thinking he could have been such a great art performance to Mrs. Westwood’s exhibition, if only it was the season of "raising awareness to the crisis of homelessness in future cities", oh but wait, that was so 2015.

- by Hadas Zucker

Background to the Chelsea Art Scene

For the past 20 years, Chelsea has remained a designated area for true art lovers. 
It is in this particular moment that Chelsea has become the center for contemporary art in New York City, while the neighborhood is going through a massive face lift and things are always changing.

The famous wild art scene of the 60’s and 70’s in NYC was based in Soho—at that time it was considered the industrial area for businesses like import/export houses, textile houses and “rag trade” clothing stores.

Artists began to move to Soho mainly because of it’s big loft spaces and cheap rent. 
Artists like Philip Glass, Twyla Tharp, Nam June Paik, Meredith Monk, Chuck Close and Frank Stella were of the few that helped create and shape the ideal situation which made Soho a nexus for creative activity at a very magical time in the 1960's. SoHo became the focal point which represented the hip, avant garde scene of the time.

Not long after, artists concentrated the area and marked it as a hip neighborhood in NYC, Soho was announced to be the “art district of new york” and what started as an organic process of art imigration, continued to be a real estate target for “art oriented” commercial businesses.
The rise of rent and change of atmosphere in the  Soho of the early 1990’s meant that galleries needed to find themselves a new home. 

This  leads us to the Chelsea art scene... 

Today, the art galleries of Chelsea are located in a small zone near the Hudson River where shipping containers used to get stored. It still feels like a secret location—an isolated art bubble that is somehow being protected from the neighborhood’s gentrification process.  With more residential spaces and tourist destinations surrounding it (like Chelsea Market, The High Line, etc.), Chelsea still maintains a good balance of the native New York scene and a tourist-friendly environment.

Considered to be the most updated center for main discourses in the international art world, expressing a wide range of innovative ideas and outstanding techniques, Chelsea is currently home to more than 350 galleries, institutions and independent art projects. It has some of the most important art galleries today, representing the most acclaimed artists from around the world.

When looking at Chelsea, one will see how it has evolved and still remains a hip and fun location. Most importantly, Chelsea is definitely the place to be to engage with the contemporary world of art!

- by Maya Yadid

The Roman Contemporary Art scene

With its priceless ancient attractions, Rome boasts the best sightseeing in the world. Despite its worldwide fame as the ‘Eternal City’, Rome surprisingly hides a vivid contemporary art scene. 

Institutional art finds place in two of the most important contemporary art museums in Italy: the MAXXI (Museum of XXIst Century Art) and the MACRO (Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome). Since the beginning, with it’s futuristic architecture designed by Zaha Hadid, the Maxxi stunned Rome’s citizens—and it still does—with consistently new and controversial exhibitions, giving space to international artists in dialogue with the permanent collection of Italian artists. 

The MAXXI by Zaha Hadid

The MACRO is currently reinstating itself, after a recent inexplicable crisis. It’s new 2017 season just opened with a great Anish Kapoor exhibition that will surely be an inspiration for the young artists in residence who have won the Macro’s annual residency prize.

Anish Kapoor at MACRO

Meanwhile, contemporary art galleries in Rome are doing a pretty interesting job, bringing famous international names to town in addition to displaying the work of young Italian artists. Apart from the glamorous Gagosian gallery, which is a brand itself, Lorcan O’Neill is the next great guarantee in the Rome art scene.

Adriana Varejao at Gagosian Gallery Rome

A brand new underground culture is finally offering an alternative scene that seems to be more and more appraised in the city. New galleries run by young directors fit very well into this, spreading throughout Rome’s industrial districts. Roman street art also has a good reputation because it’s gradually changing the landscape of Rome’s grey suburbs into a colorful and diverse art scene. 

Rome doesn’t have an art district, but it does have a district of artists’ studios. The so-called Pastificio Cerere in the San Lorenzo neighborhood is a dynamic place where art lovers can easily meet artists while they are working in their studios—a fascinating experience which is not easy to get anywhere!

- by Valentina Di Pietro