BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin and Russell and Danny Simmons’ Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation hosted the 6th Annual BOMBAY SAPPHIRE Artisan Series Mural Unveiling for Grand Finale Winner and New Orleans’ artist Aron Belka in New York City.
Take a look at our brief review of Tim Cantor’s “Sweet Favour and Fiend” at AFA Gallery Soho, curated by Tim Cantor and Heidi Leigh, on view until August 31, 2016.
Can music mean anything at all in a time of great tragedy?
Two master artists discuss their film about culture.
With what can only be described as unsurprising, New York has once again become the stage for a vital piece of history – art history, that is.
The walls were dotted with creative fervor. Curators lined up the front, vacant seats. The once rowdy room became still, and quiet.
Headed by art dealer Dominique Levy and art gallery Greene Naftali, arrives a lengthy showcase — and subsequent conversation – regarding a somewhat new and unfamiliar addition to the field of Picasso, Da Vinci and Van Gogh.
Dansaekhwa, otherwise known as “Tansaekhwa”, is a style of Korean art that had emerged from a late twentieth century movement that revolutionized the framework for Korea’s art industry. Dansaekhwa is a type of artistic minimalism that caters well to fans of western monochrome paintings — with a sense of creative fervor that is sure to appeal to enthusiasts.
Donning the appearance of the abstract, Dansaekhwa pieces work with neutral colors, grid lines and repetition to create stylized compositions that describe the Korean narrative – down to the canvas. The process is intricate and involves a copious amount of water, glue, kaolin clay and patience. The final result: a mixture of lines on a grid surface that meld together in perfect harmony.
Historical context includes a change in pace from traditional norms; as the origin story for Dansaekhwa can be traced back to the post-WW2 and subsequent Korean War throes. Devastation and destruction unbounded. Hope was sparse, and of course, humans turn to other outlets to find solace among chaotic times. Dansaekhwa emerged as a rebellious figure – a newcomer to the world of art – catering to many.
This show, hosted by Dominique Levy, has been the first exhibition held by famous Korean artist Chung Sang-Hwa in the United States. Sang-Hwa, born in 1932, has his work in several locations across the globe; this includes the U.S., Japan and Seoul. For many, he is considered to be the harbinger of the Dansaekhwa artstyle.
“Paper has to be alive and choppy. Canvas work also refers to humidity. It is like a pulse and a breath. The picture thus moves choppily. The final result is not the target of my work but to present the process of how it is done,” according to Sang-Hwa — transcribed on the wall by his displayed artworks.
Curators and audience-members alike asked Sang-Hwa several questions regarding his work. Sang-Hwa had an immediate translator by his side.
Q: How do you come across the process of making the work?
A: All artists go through a process. And I have confidence that others do the same.
Q: Have you ever considered your work to be abstract before 1980?
A: If someone came up to me at the time and asked me that, I would say: “Is it? Maybe.” but, I don’t think in my mouth there came an answer that this is abstract.
Q: When you moved to Paris, to Japan, back to Korea how has the constant moving influenced your work?
A: Depending on where I went influenced me little by little. and changed me depending on the situation and art. Whatever that place’s historical perspective would’ve been had also influenced me. I visited art museums and exhibits numerous times. Not just once or twice but hundreds of times and naturally those kinds of efforts changed me.
The exhibition, with works by Chung Sang-Hwa, consists of his Dansaekhwa portraits. The display will be available to the public from June 1st to July 31st on 909 Madison Ave, on East 73rd Street.
On Monday the 16th, The Knockturnal attended a private one night only exhibition by photographer Michael Jurick at the ultra luxurious venue The Glasshouses.
The exhibition, titled Infrared, features a series of photographs from Jurick that showcases natural moments revealed through infrared photography. This one night only event was a collaboration with The Chosen Few – an elite collection of artists and designers in the event space. 6 of the photographs on display were complimented by artists from the collective to create a unique multimedia presentation.
The night featured enough rose to fill a swimming pool and tasty bites such as truffle grilled cheese, spinach/artichoke dip, and shrimp skewers. There was also a live cover band and of course stunning floor to ceiling views of the Hudson river – I mean with a name like The Glasshouses would you expect anything less?
We chatted with Michael about the exhibition:
The Knockturnal: So tell us a bit more about this particular exhibit
Jurick: Sure over the past 4 years I’ve been collecting a body of work of my travels to Wyoming, Montana, Albania, Israel and in my backyard here in NY. So if you look at my photographs I capture all my photographs in infrared – I remove the censor from the regular digital DSLR and replace it with an infrared censor so it renders black – the whites turn sheer white and it creates an alluring quality about them that’s sort of hyper real.
The Knockturnal: And how did you choose the locations where you shot?
Jurick: Those are bucket list places. Albania for example was recently turned democratic, it was under dictatorship for years and its drop dead gorgeous. Its affordable and insanely historical.
For more on Juric’s photography head to: http://michaeljurick.com
And check out The Chosen Few at: http://hrkchosenfew.com
This past week, Rado hosted a luncheon and talk by Studio Edelkoort in Industry City, NYC as part of the WantedDesign event and the lead up to the Rado Star Prize for 2016.
Yesterday wrapped the four day art show held by NADA (New Art Dealers Alliance) at Pier 36 in the Lower East Side.
Yesterday, saw the opening of the exhibit César in Context at the Luxembourg and Dayan gallery on 77th and Park Avenue, a space tall but narrow with several floors.
César in the context of his contemporaries is evocative of a slightly stranger, more horror-esque aura than his whimsy usually allowed for. Certainly the colors are dark overall, earthy tones ranging from red to a pitch black best seen in Robert Motherwell’s Untitled (Elegy), shadowy tar black set against unassuming canvas. Cesar’s works of compression are fun, as art reusing other materials often feels. The three dimensionality of many of the projects gives an open atmosphere to the almost windowless gallery- certainly this exhibit is not one to be seen alone.
Walking through the gallery, it is almost like walking through someone’s very weird house. With peculiar taste in art. Where else but an eccentric old man’s mansion would you find César’s Scorpion? At one point there is a bow of crinoline- but in actuality it’s bronze and the title to the piece is meaningless (Armstrong Siddeley by Lynda Benglis). But the real beauty lies on the third floor, in the front section. While I nicknamed it “the limb room”, in actuality it contains more than realistic limbs- in one case an entire woman.
Classical Allusion by John de Andrea is a masterpiece. When I first caught a glimpse, it was as though an intruder had entered at random and draped herself, nude, across a Greco-Roman marble bust. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that’s not the case…or does it? The uncanny valley certainly springs to mind. It really must be seen in person to grasp the full effect.
Looking for the Césarian inspiring piece, one alights upon the thumb, or Pouce. A piece in resin with the dirt of age only augmenting its realism, it certainly leads one to draw comparisons between a real thumb (one’s own) and it. Clearly this experimentation with realism was a fascination in César’s time.
All in all, the exhibit is marvelous not just as a tribute to César “in context” per se, but also as a celebration of artists around the same time period who may not have received as much acclaim. A must-see exhibit, it truly boggles the mind and eyes- and you don’t have to be European to “get it”.
Los Angeles based artist Desire Obtain Cherish brings a new awareness to one’s sense of self and happiness in his exhibition Servant To Infinite Distraction.