a x e s m u n d i

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

practice | Moving inside the Icosahedron in Sun Farm, at Noon

Last Sunday my movement practice inside the icosahedron —which has been recently installed at Sun Farm— was coincident with sun crossing the meridian. The geometry of the three anatomical planes inscribing the vertices of the icosahedron was in turn framed by the cubic structure of the trellis. The sharp shadows of the icosahedron and trellis created a strong geometry on the ground. My moving body had clear geometric references in both the icosahedron, the interventions in the landscape and the sunlight. The movement sequence included Laban scales as well as yoga poses flows. Below are sequential frames from video of the movement routines which have been referencing to the geometric context.

The cycle begins in tadasana

Extensions in the three anatomical planes following Laban's scales.

Hands in namaste marks transitions from sequences

Rotation of arm and opposite legs with centers in the vertices defining the frontal plane

Transition to a yoga sequence including:
tadasana, uttanasana (standing forward bend), chaturanga, sirsasana variations

The cycle ends in tadasana

Monday, October 13, 2014

camminando | Jeff Koons Retrospective: The Art of Banality (and Making Money with Banality)

Jeff Koons is definitely one of the greatest geniuses in one of the talents the majority of us artists are devoid of: making money with art. The name itself of his one of his sculpture series "banalities" well render the content of his art.

Koons is not the first in the art world to use everyday objects and commodities as artwork. Andy Warhol himself gained fame and money from similar gestures, drawing art content from celebrities photos, everyday consumption objects. And there are even much earlier examples with dadaists or Marcel Duchamp "Readymades" which include common objects such as urinals or bicycle wheels.
Koons also shares with the Warhol's "Factory" the production of the "artwork" by others: it is a practice in a certain way opposite making the art object mass production.
Nevertheless I enjoyed strolling through this larger than life retrospective at the Whitney Museum (closing this week), a playful and engaging example of how art can be made of everyday life objects.

The other Jeff Koons extravaganza was "Split-Rocker" at the Rockefeller Center, the 37-foot tall planted "puppies" which was on view until September 18.