The Art Monitor

Fiona Ackerman – new works

Lili VC — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:50:56 +0000

Following the process of development of bodies of work is magical. Fiona Ackerman, a Montrealer living in Vancouver, has been fighting the art forces and winning every battle. Her most recent paintings can be seen at Winsor Gallery on South Granville Street starting Thursday, March 1st, and is the proof that persistence, hard work, and talent can walk hand in hand. In the past Fiona painted fluid ‘abstract landscapes’ where she explored many ways of applying paint to the canvas and a linear positioning of shapes that reminded us of trees, or buildings, laid on the horizon. At the same time, she is a refined realistic painter, and it’s just wonderful to see those two lines of work fusing in something so new and refreshing as the paintings in Heterotopia, the show at Winsor. Some of the marks, symbols, and colors are recurrent from past works: spirals, spray paint, triangles, violets and turquoises. To that repertoire she added a third dimension – meta-paintings that float on the canvas, producing shadows and depth.
The show goes to April 1st. Don’t miss it.

Generation, 2011 acrylic and spraypaint on canvas, 71 x 71 in

Fiona Ackerman, photo by me

Kohei Nawa – Crystal Beads and Taxidermy

Lili VC — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:53:01 +0000

I’m quite impressed by the body of work of young Japanese artist Kohei Nawa. His PixCell series of sculptures consists on covering objects in glass beads. The technique both fragments and enhances what’s underneath. I’m particularly intrigued by his work on taxidermy, but he gave a glass skin to everything – from a Dior bag, to guns, to a Nintendo game set. Nawa’s work relates to the computer age and our pixelated vision of the world.

Kohei Nawa

Traffic Colour Jam

Lili VC — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:05:50 +0000

“Painting Reality” installation in Rosenthaler Platz, Berlin

This happened months ago, but only today I found about it here. The video is self explanatory. It’s great to see the spirit of Improv Everywhere reaching the arts and taking the streets.

Weaving Colour: The Art of Megan Geckler

Lili VC — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:04:02 +0000

Straddle the line, in discord and rhyme (2009)

Oh, my! Los Angeles artist Megan Gecklerhas weaved her web in many museums and galleries throughout California and other parts. Using flagging tape she embraces spaces with colour and shadows. Geckler also works in smaller sizes, works you could have on your wall, but her large-scale wonders remain my favourites.

Every move you make, every step you take (2010)

Spread the ashes of the colors (2010-11)

Seeing thoughts in repeat (2011)

Through looking back you may go blind (2011)

Vancouver Art Gallery – New Acquisitions

Lili VC — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:26:10 +0000

At this rate the VAG will need the so-talked-about new building pronto. The Gallery acquired 156 new works in 2011, including some of my favourite local artists: Angela Grossmann, Brian Jungen, Rodney Graham and Gathie Falk, and many others.
Ken Lum’s Documenta 11 installation, Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depressions (below) is probably the most ambitious work among the new acquisitions.

” The Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection is the core of our program and its sustained growth is essential,” said Gallery director Kathleen Barthels, “We are grateful for the generosity of our many donors of art and, with their support, we will continue to build this important legacy for this city and the province.” Amen!

Ken Lum, Mirror Maze with 12 Signs of Depression, 2002, mirror, wood, Plexiglas, paint
Photo: Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery

Gauguin is Coming to Seattle

Lili VC — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 03:50:46 +0000

I am officially excited. An extensive exhibition goes deep into the influence Polynesian art and culture had on Gauguin’s work. Over 50 works by the artist will be shown at the Seattle Art Museumfrom February 9, alongside other 60 works from the Pacific. Seattle will be the only US stop of the show organized by the Art Centre Basel.

Starting to plan my visit and I will make sure to take notes and get images to The Art Monitor readers. Stay tuned.

Woman with a Flower (Vahine no te tiare), 1891,
oil on canvas, 27 3/4 x 18 5/16 in.,
Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, Photo: Ole Haupt

Auckland sketchbook, 1895-97,
Pencil on paper, 7 7/8 x 5 7/8 in. Private collection

Jeff Wall – Recent Works at Marian Goodman NY

Lili VC — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:23:16 +0000

Our very own Jeff Wall is showing at Marian Goodman Gallery in New York through January 21. This is the same gallery that shows some of my old heroes (John Baldessari)

and new ones (Tacita Dean and Gerard Richter, both of whom I got more acquainted with on a recent visit to the Tate).
Jeff Wall keeps working in very large formats and staged scenes that never stop to amaze and enchant. Although his work is referred to as near-documentary,

it’s the strangeness and artificiality what really makes it for me. This first image, Boy Falls from Tree, gets me thinking that this boy will never get to the ground and

will be permanently suspended in Wall’s alternate reality.

Boy Falls from Tree, 2010

Boxing, 2011 Image" width="500" height="364" />
Boxing, 2011

Band & Crowd, 2011 Image" width="500" height="269" />
Band & Crowd, 2011

Helen Frankenthaler, 1928–2011

Lili VC — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:13:54 +0000

Helen Frankenthaler died just a few days ago, at 83. The New York Times posted a comprehensive and sensitive obituary, including a fun anecdote:

“Ms. Frankenthaler’s passion for dancing was more than fulfilled in 1985 when, at a White House dinner to honor the Prince and Princess of Wales, she was partnered with a fast stepper who had been twirling the princess.’I’d waited a lifetime for a dance like this,’ she wrote in a 1997 Op-Ed article for The New York Times. ‘He was great!’ His name meant nothing to her until, on returning to her New York studio, she showed her assistant and a friend his card. “John Travolta,” it read.

The video below is my tribute to one of the few “lady painters” in the abstract expressionist milieu.

My Christmas Gift – Leonard Cohen

Lili VC — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:07:59 +0000

I must have been a very good girl because my Christmas gift was an ink print by Leonard Cohen! Since I moved to Canada in 2008, Leonard Cohen became one of my gateways into Canadian culture. A country that produces poetry and music like that has to be extraordinary, right?
Cohen has been drawing for many years. During 2003 he had a routine of making one self-portrait every day, first thing in the morning. To each one he added a few words, related to the final mood.
Other of his prints can be seen here.

Leonard Cohen – ink print – Good Greek Coffee 15″x12″

Michael Johansson – Getting Your S*** Together

Lili VC — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:10:20 +0000

Swedish artist Michael Joahansson has a body of work that really appeals to my domestic side. I am always trying to get my things in order but it feels like there is more mess around me than I can handle. This is also inspiring art for a year that is just beginning. In times of resolutions, how about getting your s*** together, so you can have some free time to make and enjoy art?

Mind the Gap, 2010
Cool boxes, sun chairs, picnic tables, swing, garden equipment, etc.

Bunker – Kunstbanken, 2011

Domestic Kitchen Planning, 2010
Kitchen stool, kitchen equipment.
Dimensions: 0.4 x 0.6 x 0,45 m.

Rubiks Kök, 2007(Rubik’s Kitchen)
Kitchen table, kitchen equipment