Highlight #25: Breath of Fresh Air

A look at the art scenes in the US, Germany, UK and Portugal

U.S.A, New York <GREATER NEW YORK>

11 October 2015 ~ 7 March 2016_MoMA PS1

This show is part of landmark exhibition series held every five years that features up-and-coming artists from the New York metropolitan area.
New York is often called the center of the global art world, and the city has grown with the commercial art market, proliferation of art fairs, and new opportunities for young artists. At the same time, it is a city being reshaped by local figures. The rapid changes of the city have inspired an era of nostalgia for the New Yorker, particularly for the 1970s and ’80s.

In light of this, Greater New York departs from its usual focus on youth to examine the points of connection and tension between the contradictory desire for something new and familiar. The works in exhibition express a diverse range of aesthetic approaches.
Visitors can see over 400 works by 157 artists, in addition to films and performances. Artists include Charlie Ahearn, Richard Artschwager, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Christine Sun Kim, Sophia Le Fraga, Nick Relph and Collier Schorr.

Amy Brener <Dressing Room>

2015 Urethane foam and resin, gypsum, pigment, found objects 228.6×198.1cm Courtesy the artist
Lutz Bacher <Magic Mountain>

2015 Foam modules 213.4×365.8×365.8cm Courtesy the artist and Greene Naftali, New York Photo by Pablo Enriquez
Rosalind Fox Solomon <Liberty Scaffolded>

1976 Gelatin silver print 39.4×38.7cm Courtesy the artist and Bruce Silverstein, New York

Germany, Essen <THE SHADOW OF THE AVANT-GARDE: ROUSSEAU AND FORGOTTEN MASTERS>

2 October 2015 ~ 10 January 2016_Museum Folkwang

This exhibition presents paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography, but unlike other shows, includes a special feature. Most of the featured artists lie outside the canon of art history and have no formal, academic training. Although self-taught artists are often referred to as “naïve,” their works are marked with a masterly quality. They are able to spend time on their methods, self-conception and reception.

Henri Rousseau laid the foundation for the prototype of the self-taught artist, striking a balance between non-academic and academic art. His paintings have been praised by academics and curators alike. In addition to Rousseau, visitors will be able to view works by André Bauchant, Séraphine Louis, Martin Ramirez, Honoré Daumier, Blinky Palermo and Mike Kelley.
Visitors will gain an understanding of why the self-taught artist became the companion of the avant-garde, deepening their understanding of modern art.

Camile Bombois <Athlete forain>

um 1930 ol auf Leinwand 130×89cm Don de Mme Cecile Gregory en 1948 Centre Pompidou, Paris Musee national d'art moderne/Centre de creation industrielle ⓒVG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015 ⓒFoto: bpk
Andre Bauchant <Presentation au temple>

1928 ol auf Leinwand 91×123.5cm Sammlung Zander ⓒVG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2015 ⓒFoto: Alistair Overbruck, koln
Bil Traylor <Untitled(Blue Man on Red Object)>

ca.1939-1942 Plakatfarbe und Bleistift auf Karton 29.8×19.7cm High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, purchase with funds from Mrs. Lindsey Hopkins Jr., Edith G. and Philip A. Rhodes, and the Members Guild ⓒFoto: Jensen

U.K., London <AI WEIWEI>

19 September ~ 13 December 2015_Royal Academy of Arts

Ai Weiwei is one of the China’s most influential artists and activists. His works that criticize the government’s stance on democracy continue to reach new heights at auction every few months.
This will be the artist’s first show in the UK in four years, reflecting the amount of time the Chinese government held onto his passport. His last exhibition at the Tate featured the work Sunflower Seeds.
The focal point of his new show is the work Straight, an installation that pays homage to the people who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Ai collected steel from the destroyed buildings, straightened the bars, and incorporated the names of the victims in the work.

The exhibition covers the time when Ai first returned to China from the US in 1993 to present day. Visitors will encounter not only a number of large-scale installations, but also works that showcase a variety of material from marble to steel and glass. TIME magazine wrote: “The work that you will see at the RA transcends the world of the gallery…This is an exhibition that reveals art’s greatest potential.”

Exhibition view of <Ai weiwei> at Royal Academy of Arts 2015
Exhibition view of <Ai weiwei> at Royal Academy of Arts 2015

Portugal, Porto <HELENA ALMEIDA: MY WORK IS MY BODY, MY BODY IS MY WORK>

17 October 2015 ~ 10 January 2016_Serralves Museum

This show presents work by Portuguese artist Helena Almeida created over the past five decades. The selection of photographs, performance, video, painting and drawing emphasizes the importance of the body. Almeida has explored the theme of registering, occupying and defining space since the 1960s.
The artist has explored objects and subjects, and the limits of visual and narrative space. Her works include a performative element, using her own body.

In the late 1960s, she began a series of sculptural drawings that involve applying horsehair string to works on paper or cardboard. She then explored the gap between the inner subjective states and their visible outer forms.
Visitors will be able to see works from her famous “inhabited” series, in which the artist’s body is clad in black and depicted blurrily in motion. The exhibition also includes works rarely seen from her oeuvre. ■ with ARTINPOST

<Estudo para Um Enriquecimento Interior(Study for InnerImprovement)>

1977 Tinta acrilica sobre 6 fotografias p/b Acrylic paint on 6 b/w photographs Cada: 48.5×29.5cm Col. Fundacao de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto Foto Filipe Braga, ⓒ Fundacao de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto.
<Sem titulo(Untitled)>

1968 Tinta acrilica sobre tela e madeira, roldanas Acrylic paint on canvas and wood, pulleys 130×97cm Col. Fundacao de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto Foto Filipe Braga, ⓒ Fundacao de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporanea, Porto.
Serralves Museum 2015 Helena Almeida Installation Views by Filipe Braga