Bjarne Melgaard "Psychopathological Notebook" @ Karma Gallery in New York

Entering Bjarne Melgaard’s solo exhibition, currently on view at Karma gallery in New York, means entering a psychologically charged space. After passing through the curtain of quilted and stuffed sausages, printed with Melgaard’s drawings, and past the obstacle course of penises in the hallway the viewer is confronted with a large wall curtain made out of prints, stuffed pillows, and string. The adjacent walls are covered with Melgaard’s paintings, which he did as a response to Karel Appel’s Psychopathological Notebook (1950). Appel created his notebook after visiting the L’Art Chez les Fous exhibit in Paris, the International Exhibition of Psychopathological Art at the Sainte- Anne psychiatric hospital. Dissatisfied with the pamphlet that accompanied the exhibition Appel decided to draw over the published text. Melgaard’s paintings are the result of the artist’s own hand manipulating and covering Appel’s original drawings. The already highly expressive and charged drawings become further abstracted and frantic. Bjarne Melgaard "Psychopathological Notebook" will be on view until February 28, 2016 at Karma Gallery, 39 Great Jones Street, New York. text and photography by Adriana Pauly

X: Sex And Dying In High Society @ These Days LA Gallery in Los Angeles

This exhibition is a celebration of the seminal and quintessential Los Angeles punk band X. Formed in 1977 at the dawn of the DIY punk movement in Los Angeles, X was a definitive sound in the first wave of the Los Angeles punk scene. Playing relentlessly, they graced the stages of all the legendary clubs of the times—The Masque, The Hong Kong Café, Cathay de Grande, The Whiskey a Go Go, Club 88, The Starwood, and Madame Wong’s. In 1979 their song Los Angeles was released on the Dangerhouse compilation YES LA and immediately became a city-defining anthem. Thirty-seven years and countless classic songs later, X continues to play shows to devoted fans around the world. X: Sex And Dying In High Society will be on view until March 26 at These Days LA Gallery, 118 Winston Street, 2nd FL Los Angeles, CA

Art into Society – Society into Art: Seven German Artists @ The ICA in London

This archival display documents the 1974 ICA exhibition Art into Society – Society into Art: Seven German Artists (29 October – 24 November 1974), a key part of a season called the German Month that was staged at the ICA and which featured film screenings, talks, performances and exhibitions showcasing the wide-ranging cultural developments emerging from West Germany at that time. Organised by ICA Curator Sir Norman Rosenthal and writer and curator Christos M. Joachimides, Art into Society – Society into Art included artists Albrecht D., Joseph Beuys, KP Brehmer, Hans Haacke, Dieter Hacker, Gustav Metzger, Klaus Staeck and photographer Michael Ruetz. At a time of pivotal change within the broader social and political structures, as well as the field of art production, the exhibition showed the increasingly close relationship between artistic expression and politics coming from West Germany. Art into Society – Society into Art will be on view until March 13, 2006 at ICA, 12 Carlton House Terrace, London.

Joshua Abelow "Motion Pictures" @ Tif Sigfrids Gallery in Los Angeles

Tif Sigfrids presents a solo presentation by Joshua Abelow entitled "Motion Pictures". This is the artists first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. In his paintings, Abelow depicts the neurosis of the 21st century artist, creating a kind of self-portraiture through a handful of recurring characters. In this series we see a noodley stick figure nestled inside a buff witch running here, there, and nowhere in particular. These running witches are shown alongside new paintings of austere grey fields in which Abelow’s smaller abstract works attempt to orient themselves in the zero-g landscape. The characters in Abelow’s work simultaneously facilitate and obstruct semantic clarity, delivering an allegorical hangover without the full allegory itself. All of the paintings presented here stem from a body of work made during a sojourn in rural Maryland where the artist worked in relative solitude while simultaneously undergoing a curatorial project out of a space called Freddy in nearby Baltimore. Joshua Abelow "Motion Pictures" is on view now at Tif Sigfrids, 1507 Wilcox Avenue, Los Angeles, CA

Marianne Vitale's First Solo Show On the West Coast @ Venus Over Los Angeles

Venus Over Los Angeles presents an exhibition of new sculptures by Marianne Vitale, marking the artist’s first solo show on the West Coast. Vitale’s sculptures incorporate infrastructure staples (such as steel rail supports for an entire transport system and wooden beams for the base of a building’s framework) and interact with the gallery. The first space holds Thought Field (2016), composed of 90 unaltered factory-length sections of used steel railroad track, circa the 1920’s, with a combined weight of over 60 tons. In the second gallery space, for her new series Beam Work, the artist displays six towering stacks of eleven-foot long white pine squared timbers that have been hand-painted, bashed and pummeled to loosely recall urban traffic barricades. The exhibition will be on view until February 27, 2016 at Venus Over Los Angeles, 601 South Anderson Street. 

VIP Opening of La Rosa Social Club, A Four Night Art Installation Experience and Group Show by Aaron Rose

Over four days, during the 2016 LA Art Book Fair, La Rosa Social Club will open its doors and then close them forever. If you were there, then you were there. LA-based artist Aaron Rose offers us a chance to experience his version of an art bar with La Rosa, a conceptual installation that will run in conjunction with this year’s LA Art Book Fair. The collaborative project by The Conversation (Los Angeles/Berlin) and Alldayeveryday will take place in the Allday LA Project Space and will run from its opening preview on February 11th to February 14th. The concept will combine the traditional idea of a consumer space and inject it with an immersive, artistic experience. Artists that are designing ephemera for the bar are: Ed Templeton, Stefan Strumbel, Aaron Rose, Chris Johanson, Wes Lang, Barbara Stauffacher-Solomon, Gusmano Cesaretti, Chris Lux, Brian Roettinger, Terry Richardson, Alia Penner, Geoff McFetridge, Alexis Ross, Jesse Spears, Wyatt Troll, Lola Rose Thompson, Benjamin Barretto, Cheryl Dunn, Barry McGee, Raymond Pettibon, Olivier Zahm, Nate Walton. You can checkout La Rosa Social Club until February 14 at the Alldayeveryday project space, AlldayLA Project Space, 2028 E. 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Berlinde De Bruyckere "No Life Lost" @ Hauser and Wirth in New York

Belgian artist Berlinde De Bruyckere’s work is currently on view at Hauser & Wirth in New York. The solo exhibition No Life Lost is centered by the monumental project Kreupelhout – Cripplewood, an ambitious work composed of wax, wood, fabric, blankets and ropes, reminiscent of a decomposed stack of bones. The almost entirely dark exhibition space underlines the macabre atmosphere created by the eerie art pieces. De Bruyckere’s work is informed by traditional Flemish Renaissance paintings whose influence she translates into a contemporary psychological terrain of pathos, tenderness and repulsion. Skin-like draperies are hanging from the ceiling and hauntingly distorted animal carcasses are presented on tables and glass vitrines. The artist’s interested in the dualities of the human condition are immediately apparent to the viewer. The ordinarily repulsive vision of a decomposing animal carcass becomes alluring while the shrine-like presentation allows for a sense of quiet respect. No Life Lost will be on view at Houser & Wirth until April 2, 2016. Text and photographs by Adriana Pauly

Art From The Dark Heart of Europe: Read Our Conversation With The Dangerous and Alluring Gallery Director Harlan Levey on the Eve of Art Rotterdam →

Marcin Dudek Performance at opening of new HLP space, 2015

Harlan Levey Projects is not only one of the most exciting galleries in new art hot spot Brussels, but the gallery may also have one of the greatest and most exciting rosters and platforms in the world. On the eve of Art Brussels 2016, we have a chat with Harlan about his stint as a professional soccer player, contemporary art and more. Read the full interview here. 

John Kayser "Women" @ Farago Gallery In Los Angeles

John Kayser made photographs and films in California in the 1960s and 70s. His house and the streets of Los Angeles were stage for the private rituals that defined his obsession with female beauty. The women he captured on film performed at the heart of a photographic practice that remained out of sight while he was alive. John Kayser "Women" will be on view until March 5, 2015 at Farago Gallery, 224 West 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA. 

"The Real Thing" Group Show With Juno Calypso, Natasha Caruana, Pixy Yijun Liao and Melanie Willhide At Flowers Gallery In New York

The Real Thing, a group show at Flowers Gallery in New York, showcases the work of four female photographers who experiment with the concepts of gender, sexuality and identity. Most artists take center stage in their own work exploring their relationship with others or the construction of their own identity like Juno Calypso. The artist created a fictional persona called Joyce who she documents while performing private rituals of seduction. The elaborately staged images and outfits of the character are a commentary on the exhausting construction of femininity. Pixy Liao documents shifting power dynamics between partners in her series Experimental Relationships by constructing a fictional narrative for her partner and herself. The woman is seen embracing the partner, shielding and protecting his often-naked body, reversing ideas of fragility and helplessness often associated with femininity. Natasha Caruana also questions relationships in her series Married Man. The anonymous photographs capture different men that the artist contacted through a dating site for married people. The documentary style of the series assists in creating a sense of loneliness and alienation instead of judgment.  The artist Melanie Willhide takes a different approach to the idea of photography by creating artificial artifacts that are reminiscent of tokens passed between lovers. By using digital technology to alter the images and make them seem older the work becomes a meditation on obsolete acts of romance. The Real Thing will be on view until February 27th, 2016 at Flowers Gallery in New York. text and photographs by Adriana Pauly

Here It Is: Your Must See Art Guide During Zona Maco México Arte Contemporaneo 2016 →

This week, Mexico City will be awash with patrons of the art, artists, galleryists, gawkers, wannabes and creative adventure seekers. Opening on Wednesday, February 3rd, Zona Maco México Arte Contemporaneo will be ground zero for one of the world’s most important art fairs and by far the biggest in South America. Founded by Zélika García 2002, Zona Maco as built a bridge between Mexico’s capital and the world’s leading artistic institutions. Surrounding the fair, though, will be a number of exhibitions, events and satellite fairs, including the Material Art Fair and the Imprint Book Fair at Museo Jumex. You can also catch highlight exhibitions by the likes of Yoko Ono, Adam Green, and Los Angeles based artist on the rise Ariana Papademetropoulos. Here is your #mustsee art guide during Zona Maco 2016. Click here to read the full list. 

Artist Dennis Hoekstra Recreates Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco At LTD Los Angeles

Hoekstra’s sculpture, painting and installation practice is informed by the European artisanal traditions of faux-bois and faux-marbre, Hollywood set fabrication techniques, suburban backyard Halloween haunted houses and the vernacular of Disney theme parks especially their “dark rides.” In his formative years, the artist toured Disneyland’s fabrication facilities extensively with his father, “Dutch” Hoekstra, a member of their creative fabrication team from 1964 until 1979. In January 2010, Rodney Bingenheimer visited LTD Los Angeles on its opening day and shared the history of the gallery space with LTD Los Angeles founder, Shirley Morales. Since then, they have discussed the possible re-presentation of his eponymous club. Morales invited Hoekstra to work in close collaboration with the gallery and Bingenheimer to realize a re-presentation of this iconic 1970s glam club. Bingenheimer generously provided unprecedented access to an archive of vintage photos, videos, vinyl records, posters and celebrity memorabilia originally displayed in the club. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Opening Night Preview of Art Los Angeles Contemporary 2016 At the Barker Hangar Part Two

Art Los Angeles Contemporary presents top established and emerging galleries from around the world, with a strong focus on Los Angeles galleries. Participants present some of the most dynamic recent works from their roster of represented artists, offering an informed cross section of what is happening now in contemporary art making. ALAC will be on view until January 31, 2016 at The Barker Hangar 3021 Airport Avenue Santa Monica, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Opening Night Preview of Art Los Angeles Contemporary 2016 at the Barker Hangar Part One

Art Los Angeles Contemporary presents top established and emerging galleries from around the world, with a strong focus on Los Angeles galleries. Participants present some of the most dynamic recent works from their roster of represented artists, offering an informed cross section of what is happening now in contemporary art making. ALAC will be on view until January 31, 2016 at The Barker Hangar 3021 Airport Avenue Santa Monica, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper

Opening Vernissage for Betty Tomkins' "Women Words, Phrases, and Stories" @ The Flag Art Foundation

Betty Tompkins' exhibition Women Words, Phrases, and Stories marks the first comprehensive presentation of 1,000 intimately-scaled, hand-painted works, each of which features a word or words used to describe women. The language in the exhibition ranges from flirtatious to derogatory, and emanates from Tompkins's career-long commitment to challenge the representation of female identity, the politics of pleasure, and the role of sexuality in contemporary culture. Betty Tomkin's "Women Words, Phrases, and Stories" will be on view until May 14 at the Flag Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street, New York. photographs by Scout Maceachron  

Cecily Brown, Jeff Koons, Charles Ray The Flag Art Foundation in New York

Ranging from lushly painted canvases to sculptures of extraordinary technical acumen, Cecily Brown, Jeff Koons, Charles Ray includes three artworks by each artist that address themes of youth, nostalgia, and intimacy, and highlight the intersection of innocence and subversion. Jeff Koons and Charles Ray's unprecedented approach to material, scale, and surface have redefined the possibilities of sculpture. Mining the rich psychological territory of childhood and familial relationships, both artists elevate innocent subject matter to monumental status. Cecily Brown explores youth and transience in kaleidoscopic compositions of fleshy, abstracted figures, utilizing the materiality of paint to replicate physical sensation and the illusion of motion. The exhibition will be on view until May 14, 2016 at the Flag Art Foundation, 545 West 25th Street. photographs by Scout Maceachron