“Keith Haring: 1978-1982” - Brooklyn Museum
When Keith Haring first appeared on the scene in New York
and had his first show with Tony Shafrazi in 1981, he was an instant star! The Brooklyn
exhibition was special to view as one could see several very early works never
seen before in public, including his first video piece “Painting Myself into a
Corner”.
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| Keith Haring, Painting Myself into a Corner, 1979 |
“Ai Weiwei: According To What?" - Hirshhorn Museum
Having seen Ai Weiwei's Turbine Hall installation
"Sunflower Seeds" at the Tate in 2010, and his film "Never Sorry"
earlier in the year, it was fascinating to experience how this multi-faceted
artist continues to comment on the political climate in China while sharing his
life and his views online, in the media and in the context of this spectacular
retrospective.
Martin Creed’s "Mothers" - MCA Chicago
The first time I saw Martin Creed perform his
"Alphabet" song with his "girl band" at the Basel Art Fair
for the Bulgari dinner guests several years ago, his extraordinary talent and wit
blew me away! I have been a fan ever since. His largest kinetic sculpture ever
created to date, "MOTHERS" measures more than 48 feet wide and 20
feet tall, steadily rotating a full 360 degrees like a 1950's roadside
motel sign. That's only at the entrance. He continues to awe!
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| Martin Creed, MOTHERS, 2012 |
“Wade Guyton OS” – Whitney Museum
When Modern Collections gallery opened in London in 2011, I
saw their "Guyton Guyton Walker Walker" exhibition and was intrigued
by Guyton's use of the technologies of our time, the desktop computer, scanner
and inkjet printer to create his random imperfect paintings. In the
Whitney exhibition, he has created two new giant canvases, stretching up to
50 feet in length using this technique. Also included are his "Fire",
“U” and "X" paintings and "U" sculptures.
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| Wade Guyton, installation shot, Whitney Musuem, 2012 |
"Portrait of Paula Cooper” by Rudolf Stingel - Art Basel,
June 2012
Paula has always been a heroine of mine as she was one of
the first gallerists in Soho along with Leo Castelli. Rudolf Stingel painted
a portrait of Paula, based on a 1980's photograph, looking sultry and
glamorous with a cigarette in her hand. It was a show stopper at the opening of
Art Unlimited as we all greeted Paula in front of it. It measures 11 x 15
feet.
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| Rudolf Stingel, Portrait of Paula Cooper, 2012 |
Lucio Fontana - Gagosian
Lucio Fontana devoted his practice to investigating the
concept of space and creating a new visual language. He was a pioneer in
the use of new technology, neon, UV light and the new medium, television.
To further his concepts of a third dimension (cutting the canvas), which
he began in 1948, Fontana wrote several manifestos and coined the movement
"Spazialismo". The works were called "Concetti Spaziali" or
"Spacial Concepts". The Gagosian Gallery mounted the most
extraordinary exhibition in New York, which reconstructured six of his
"Ambienti Spaziali" showing works from private and public
collections, many never seen before!
