vernissages | Ex-tracting, Presenting and Re-presenting Nature

Giuseppe Penone "Indistinti confini/ Indistinct Boundaries", at  Marian Goodma

vernissages | NYC: Dale Chihuly and Beverly Pepper at Marlborough

Biological forms explored in glass and neon, from Dale Chihuly

Geometry galore in Beverly Pepper "Small Sculptures"

March 8, International Women's Day

Siamo in tante siam più della metà 

lo siamo sempre state in questa umanità.

Today is International Womens' Day.The above words are rhymes chanted during feminist marchs in Italy a few decades ago. My memories from the teenager years recollect this chanting among the debate about difference between women emancipation and liberation. 

Today, March 8 2015, even Google homepage has a composite of vignettes picturing women's achievements. Yet not all women are representative of the female identity and histories.  This day should be especially a celebration of all the unprivileged women, who have been suffering from economical and social injustice.

Uncannily, in New York today  is also the first day of seasonally mild temperature, after months of almost uninterrupted harshly cold weather and snowstorms. Is spring finally coming? 

In the meantime, hoping for a seasonal and metaphorical spring to  finally arrive, I  wish:

Happy Women's Day!

In celebration of our diversity

and recognition

of our individual beauty, creativity, strength, compassion and fairness!

Fairs | "Armory Show: Contemporary" ars as τέχνηPop

Below are snapshots from my yesterday visit to the "Armory Show: Contemporary" illustrating the most interesting examples of intersection of art and technology, often in installations. And of course, there were many chances for selfies framed in/by artwork.

Apologies for the missing captions/credits (coming soon).

from Kavi Gupta Gallery (Chicago Berlin)

Layered drawings on glass from Tang Contemporary Art (Beijing)

Hans Op de Beeck from Galerie Ron Mandos (Amsterdam)

Multimedia installation from Aanant & Zoo Galerie (Berlin)

Dan Graham from Lisson (London, New York, Miami)

Brian Bress at Cherry and Martin Tang

Pop Culture from Pierogi (Brooklyn)

Berta Fisher's Plexiglas at James Fuentes (New York)

Dodecahedra in different media from Norther Europe: above Andersen Contemporary (Copenhagen)
and below, Sies + Hoke (Dusseldorf)

Fairs | The Armory Show: Finding Continuity? Perhaps...

Making my way to Pier 94, along the slushy or snow covered pathways of the Hudson waterfront

The 2015 Armory Show appears to offer a more insightful presentation of "art for sale" —which has been historically often overpowered by gimmicky and glitzy exhibits. While walking throughout the "Modern" section in Pier 92 you can find a formal and logical continuity between modern pioneers of non-representational art and the current examples of the "Contemporary" in Pier 94. Optical and kinetic works from Zero, formal minimalism of Sol LeWitt or the sensual geometries of Yuko Nasaka,  seems to find contemporary expressions in Daniel Buren or the many other contemporary artists exploring the intersections between digital fabrications and sculpture making. And Michelangelo Pistoletto's mirrored based work allure to ourselves' images preceding of several decades the "selfies". A few images narrate this Armory 2015 first impressions.

Michelangelo Pistoletto from Repetto Gallery (Londo)

Pier Paolo Calzolari "Senza Titolo" (1943) from Galleria D'Arte Maggiore (Bologna)

Dieter Roth featured at Zucker Art Books

Alexander Calder "The Sphere and the Spirals no. 17" Crane and Kalman Gallery (London)

Daniel Buren (above) and Ivan Navarro from Galerie Daniel Templon (Paris)

Yuko Nasaka featured by Whitestone Gallery (Tokyo)

Heinz Mack Spiral from Beck & Eggeling (Dusseldorf)

Special Project at the Armory Show- Modern: Carlo Massoud "Arab Dolls"

Of particular relevance is the presence of conceptual art in the elegant minimal exhibition of 

• mfc-michèle didier featuring On Kawara and Muntadas.

Pauline Laumond in front of On Kawara "I Got Up",  mfc-michèle didier (Paris)

The 2015 focus also is more connected with the current socio-historical living. For the sixth  year the Armory Show presents a curated section in Pier 94 emphasizing the commercial galleries art of a selected geographic region. This year chosen region is Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean (Acronym MENAM) curated by Omar Kholeif from Whitechapel Gallery in London, in collaboration with Lead Cultural Partner, Edge of Arabia and Education Partner, Art Jameel. Galleries are included together with not-for-profit institutions and site-specific projects.

Armory Focus: MENAM