a x e s m u n d i

Friday, April 3, 2015

camminando & vernissages | Chelsea April 2

Sebastião Salgado at Sundaram Tagore

John Giorno "SPACE FORGETS YOU" at Elizabeth Dee Gallery

Walk length: 11 km

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

camminando | Saturday Artist Talks, March 28

Saturday talks in Chelsea art galleries are becoming a welcomed tradition; gallery art talks are almost an educational event offering a chance to view artwork and listening to artists intentions away from the huge crowds gathering at the vernissages, where often social networking prevails on the art viewing purpose.

This was certainly the case at Tanya Bonakdar gallery, hosting Tomás Saraceno discussion with Leila W. Kinney and Molly Nesbit. Saraceno's work is also on display in the two floors of the gallery which are organized in a clear distinction between the natural world —in display at the ground level— and the man-made webs on view at the second level. I remember Saraceno's manmade webs from La Biennale di Venezia (2009): the site specific installation in Palazzo delle Esposizioni was occupying the whole room, influencing the viewer perceptual and walking paths.

During the artist I learned about social spider farms in Ecuador and how certain thermodynamics conditions can turn spiderweb into a "magic carpet"; spiders can create webs measuring over 700 kilometers. The transfer between life forms and computational methods was also addressed.. But I was disappointed that there was almost no mention about the relationship between the form of the web and the underlying physical/environmental conditions.

Spider and spiderwebs: Tomas Saraceno at Tanya Bonakdar

The other talk was a conversation between Adam Magyar and Andrew Zolli at Julie Saul Gallery. The Hungarian photographer was showing photos and videos from subways in major metropolitan areas around the world: Shanghai, Berlin, Tokyo, Beijing, Mumbai, New York, Paris, London, Hong Kong and Rome. The slo-mo videos capturing the almost imperceptible boundary between stillness an movement were captivating. Quite interestingly the issue of privacy was not addressed during the conversation: what would be the reaction of the several thousand people whose faces were clearly recognizable in the photos if they knew of their image public display?

Adam Magyar at Julie Saul Gallery

Friday, March 27, 2015

Vernissages & camminando | Not the Usual Art Materials in Chelsea, March 26

It was a quite inspiring evening, and the theme du jour was finding materials outside art supply stores to make art. Anything goes, from spiderwebs to shoes, nails and broken bottle. Yet a vibrant evening showing that art making is live and well.

"live" and completed spiderwebs in display in a darkened room

Spiderweb, spiders and manmade networks: Tomás Saraceno at Tanya Bonakdar

"Arman And César" at Allan Stone Project

Joyce Kozloff "Maps + Patterns" at DC Moore

Annette Lemieux "Everybody wants to be a catchy tune." at Kent Fine Art,

West 25 Street

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

exhibition & performance | Fabio Mauri "I Was Not New"

Senza Arte (Without Art), 1990

A few weeks ago, ‘Fabio Mauri. I was not new’ the first New York exhibition devoted to Fabio Mauri opened at Hauser & Wirth. Mauri (1926-2009) was considered one of the most prominent postwar Italian avant-garde artists; his five decades work in visual and performing arts, film and writing, encompassed several disciplines and media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, film, and site-specific installations. An ante-litteram conceptual artist, Fabio Mauri explored socio-historical issues emerging from the turbulent Italian prewar and postwar political periods, including Fascism and Holocaust.
The exhibition is organized by the gallery in collaboration with Olivier Renaud-Clément and will remain on view through 2 May 2015; a survey from Fabio Mauri oeuvre will be presented at La Biennale di Venezia – 56th International Art Exhibition.