Carnegie International 2013 (Part 2)

Phyllida Barlow TIP

Last week, I finally posted about the Carnegie International, which is within days of its closing on March 15. I have made two trips to see the exhibit over the last month; I waited until after the second to try to put my thoughts in order. So, continuing with where I had left off --

Zoe Strauss

Special care was taken to involve community groups in and around Pittsburgh with the curators and artists involved in the current exhibit. An apartment was rented in Lawrenceville, where curators and CI!# artists met with selected members of the Pittsburgh arts community. Zoe Strauss (above) set up a portrait studio in Homestead. Transformazium has instigated an Art Lending Collection in Braddock.

Survey shows really are meant to expose trends and not necessarily an individual vision. This survey exhibit covered a lot of ground, showcasing work in several mediums. The artists are from as close as Philadelphia and as far away as China. Some are steeped in the nuances of current art trends while others can easily be categorized as outsider artists. Figurative, abstract, time-based; whatever your preferred form, has their own trends within the larger sphere. A few years go, the term pluralism was used to try to tame the tangle of directions. But it seems now like that term was just a way to make it seem like a fractitious‎ period of art-making had a unifying purpose.

Over the last week, reviews began to roll out for the Whitney Biennial. I was very interested to read what Jerry Saltz had to say. The Whitney Biennial, like CI13, was curated by a team, but included a producing artist along with the professional curators. It made me wonder if CI13 would have been better served if the curatorial team had included somebody whose career wasn't dependent on curating.

CI13 was self-referential, with art and artists chosen that furthered the dialog of the art sphere rather than the expressive value of the art itself. It would have been a pleasure beyond belief to discover a masterwork among the works in the exhibit; something that compelled to action or contemplation. But I think that the art sphere isn't really meant to support that level of work.

2013, Carnegie International List is out & includes Transformazium Artists actually living in Pittsburgh area

Off hand this seems like an interesting list, with lots of artists I don't know, from a wider range of places.

Artists include Ei Arakawa/Henning Bohl, Phyllida Barlow, Yael Bartana, Sadie Benning, Bidoun Library, The Collection, Nicole Eisenman, Lara Favaretto, Vincent Fecteau, Rodney Graham, Guo Fengyi, Wade Guyton, Rokni Haerizadeh, He An, Amar Kanwar, Dinh Q. Lê, Mark Leckey, Pierre Leguillon, Sarah Lucas, Tobias Madison, Zanele Muholi, Paulina Olowska, The Playground Project, Pedro Reyes, Kamran Shirdel, Gabriel Sierra, Taryn Simon, Frances Stark, Joel Sternfeld, Mladen Stilinović, Zoe Strauss, Henry Taylor, Tezuka Architects, Transformazium, Erika Verzutti, and Joseph Yoakum.

Of course, any show that includes Zoe Strauss gets my attention.

I may check back with more thoughts.

See the list and a video about the choices here.

http://ci13.cmoa.org/artists-projects

What The Carnegie International Could Have Been Part 1

I think when one sees the Carnegie International this year one should have an idea of what it might have been; a full blooded, all out, courageous interaction between artists and the city of Pittsburgh instead of a show in a museum.

"Walking through the concrete pillars, you dance with the space. You waltz with the other people circling the pillars in clockwise and counterclockwise motions. Sometimes in sync with your temporary partner, sometimes in opposite directions. From east to west, from north to south the dance continues. Along the way, people walking their bikes; people biking through; people on skateboards; people in-line skating; neighborhood kids roving in packs; are all a part of the space."

"And then you reach the north wall. #73 is also somebody's home."

I for one, know there are artists who desperately want to to interact with more than just the "art world" in an "art museum".Zoe Strauss is one.

The New Ashcan School

The Bellow's show at the Frick got me thinking about some of my favorite artist's today. Bellow's was part of "the Ashcan School", a group of early 20th century American painters. These artist's rejected a lot of the formalities of the academy and tried to make work that represented, celebrated and was relevant to people.

They also tried to take control in other ways. "In 1908, as a protest against prevailing restrictive academic exhibition procedures the "Eight" organized a history-making exhibition that became a symbol of rebellion in American and modern art. The show was revolutionary in that it was the first exhibit that was self-organized and self-selected by a group of related artists, without a jury and prizes."

Anyway, there seems to a big group of artist's today,looking for new ways to do that; Swoon, Barry McGee and Zoe Strauss come to mind.

Zoe Strauss Punched My Face

Zoe Strauss's, "If you are reading this" show was one of the most powerful things I have seen in a while. She is doing a closing party and slide projection outside the space on June 22nd. If you are in NY you should make this.

Roberta Smith's review in the Times was on the mark.

" Stylistically, her images of down-and-out people, many of them her neighbors, and derelict places suggest a gritty street photographer with a certain awareness of Nan Goldin’s work. But Ms. Strauss, who is self-taught, veers more toward Helen Levitt in both her refusal to sentimentalize or exploit her subjects and in her instinctive grasp of the drama of the street. "

" Ms. Strauss’s images are not without tenderness, but their harsh, unblinking force is a bit like a punch in the face. They show us what most Americans don’t want to see. "

Zoe's show got a lot of attention and all of it was deserved. sometimes behind a lot of sizzle, there's a really great steak. Here's her blog and her flickr
Friday June 22nd
8:30 PM Slide presentation around 9pm
Sivertein Gallery
525 West 24th ST.
NYC