L.A. Expanded: Notes from the West Coast A weekly column by Catherine Wagley A friend of mine, a sculptor with immense brown eyes and a long figure that that always looks both cautious and comfortable with itself, was standing next to her brother’s Ford Explorer outside an Illinois gas station. They’d just been to see their grandfather in a rest home and it was the[…..]
According to an article this year, Amercians’ top fears include: terrorism, flying and heights. All of these, we can assume, stem from an ultimate fear of physical pain or death. However, there are those whose life experiences include certain hardships or burdens that would cause them to fear something such as abandonment above even the most horrific physical harm. Wisconsin-based artist Kitty Huffman has explored[…..]
Francis Alÿs in collaboration with Olivier Debroise and Rafael Ortega. A Story of Deception, Patagonia, 2006 still from 16mm film (4:20). Courtesy of Francis Alÿs and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich © Francis Alÿs. A Story of Deception is the title of Francis Alÿs‘ current retrospective on view at the Tate Modern. The title of the exhibition, which spans the artist’s two-decade long career is borrowed[…..]
L.A. Expanded: Notes from the West Coast A weekly column by Catherine Wagley I spent Sunday looking at boys. It began at LACMA, where I saw Catherine Opie’s quarterbacks, linebackers and surfers followed by Thomas Eakins’s rowers, wrestlers and athletic but stationary nudes. It continued at the Egyptian Theater, with ten of Andy Warhol’s four-minute screen tests: Buffy Phelps with delicate, defiant eyes and blondish[…..]
One of the worst things about summer is also one of the best: it’s transitory. Like an awkward first love affair, that fact that it’s all over so fast is exactly what makes summer such a mythologized season. In the art world, summer is the spiritual home to the group show, a time to test out new ideas or bring together artists still in an[…..]
It’s My World, a current group show at Baer Ridgeway Exhibitions in San Francisco, is compelling in its approach to a somewhat dated subject matter: the landscape. The show successfully combines the apparent solid thesis of the exhibition: “a strong emphasis on the use of unexpected materials, abstracted forms and the examination of time” in a bid to approach issues raised by humans’ complicated relationship[…..]
One person’s bustling metropolis is another person’s claustrophobic nightmare. One person’s tedious, solitary working condition is another’s personal escape and respite. A city as large and as densely populated as London is sure to be brimming with such varied experiences. There are the stories of those who have been there for generations, and of those who are newly arrived—having left stories behind elsewhere in search[…..]
