"A Modest Proposal" Group Show Opening @ Hauser and Wirth Gallery In New York

In 1729, Jonathan Swift wrote an essay offering short-term solutions to Ireland’s dire situation with poverty and starvation. The essay, entitled A Modest Proposal, was simple in its intent: to stave off hunger, the Irish must simply start eating their children. It is that essay and its sentiment satirizing the absurd dilemma of being slaves to our bodies that provided the jumping off point for Hauser & Wirth’s new show, also entitled A Modest Proposal. The show features works from New York-based fine art photographer Lucas Blalock, Los Angeles-based Japanese sculptor and painter Naotaka Hiro, New York-based Russian mixed-media artist and painter Sanya Kantarovsky, New York-based French conceptual, performance, and mixed-media artist Nicola L., Iranian-American Los Angeles-based painter Tala Madani, and Polish painter Jakub Julian Ziólkowski. All the works in the show critique our relationships to our “bodies and the abject,” often with a light (albeit conceptual) touch and a sense of humor. Hauser & Wirth’s curatorial efforts are always spectacular, and seeing these artists interact with another in a gallery space should prove quite a treat. To open the show, Hauser & Wirth staffers put on red plastic onesies that were all connected, connecting the human bodies to one another as they flailed and gasped for freedom. "A Modest Proposal" will be on view until July 29, 2016 at Hauser Wirth, 18th Street, New York.  text and photographs by Adam Lehrer

That's A Damn Fine Painting: An Interview With Adam Parker Smith On His Fantastical Solo Show On View Now In New York →

Painting. Multi-media. Installation. Sculpture. All of these tags have been applied to the practice of New York-based artist Adam Parker Smith. All of these tags are or have been correct in their labeling of Smith’s work. But as wild and conceptual as Smith’s work gets at times, he roots his art in the fundamentals of painting. Whether he’s making mylar balloon sculptures or putting together an exhibition of works stolen from other artists (as he did with his Lu Magnus Gallery exhibition Thanks), he’s doing so with acknowledgement of the fundamentals of painting: “I think my work can be jarring but a lot of times it is smooth and cumulative,” he says while laboring over the installation of his current solo show at The Hole in NYC, entitled Oblivious the Greek. “The work moves well, it’s balanced, and its colors compliment it. One of the elements that make a work successful is being attractive.” Click here to read. 

Ren Hang "What We Do Is Secret" @ MAMA Gallery In Los Angeles

Perhaps inadvertently, Ren Hang’s subject matter and seemingly simple technique have transcendent ramifications. His subjects project an irreverence that directly disrupts the restrictive realm of heteronormativity and presents alternate sexual and aesthetic realities. The title of Hang’s exhibition, What We Do Is Secret, references the music of punk band the Germs, which aligns with the provocative spirit of the artist’s images. Antagonism abounds in Hang’s work with a counterculture-fueled rebellion lying at its core. Ren Hang "What We Do Is Secret"  will be on view at MAMA Gallery until July 23, 2016. 

Richard Prince "The Douglas Blair Turnbaugh Collection (1977-1988)" @ Edward Cella Art & Architecture In Los Angeles

Edward Cella Art & Architecture presents a rare collection of artworks, ephemera, and personal correspondence by artist Richard Prince. This private collection was assembled by New York writer and producer Douglas Blair Turnbaugh. The archive dates to the artist's earliest and most formative years (1977-1988) and offers an intimate glimpse into the unique relationship and confidential rapport shared by this influential artist and his devoted early patron. In Turnbaugh's own words: "Some of the pieces in this collection may at first glance be seen merely as common objects. But Richard is a master prankster, provocateur, poet, alchemist, prestidigitator — he can transform a material object, without altering its physicality, into an idea, into art, into an icon." Richard Prince: The Douglas Blair Turnbaugh Collection (1977-1988) features notable highlights from the collection, offering visitors a museum-like experience. Richard Prince "The Douglas Blair Turnbaugh Collection (1977-1988)" will be on view until July 16, 2016 at Edward Cella Art & Architecture, 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles

Denise Scott Brown "Wayward Eye – Venice To Venice" As Part Of The Venice Architecture Biennale @ Palazzo Mora

"Wayward Eye – Venice To Venice" by Denise Scott Brown, as a part of the Venice Architecture Biennale collateral event "Time, Space, Existence", hosted in Palazzo Mora from 28th May to 27th November 2016. photographs by Sara Kaufman

Yayoi Kusama "Narcissus Garden" At the Glass House in Connecticut

The Glass House is pleased to present Yayoi Kusama: Narcissus Garden, a landscape installation that will be on view throughout the 2016 tour season to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Philip Johnson’s birth and the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Glass House site to the public. First created fifty years ago in 1966 for the 33rd Venice Biennale, this iteration of Narcissus Garden will be incorporated into the Glass House’s 49-acre landscape. Narcissus Garden, comprising 1,300 floating steel spheres, each approximately 12 inches in diameter (30 cm) will be installed in the Lower Meadow and forest, creating a dramatic view to the west of the Glass House. Drifting in the newly restored pond, the spheres will move with the wind and follow the pond’s natural currents, forming a kinetic sculpture. Their mirrored surfaces will reflect the surrounding Pond Pavilion (1962), wooded landscape, and sky.  Yayoi Kusama "Narcissus Garden" will be on view until November 30, 2016 at The Glass House, click here to schedule a tour. text by Adam Lehrer

Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" Opening Night @ Hammer Museum In Los Angeles

This is what we talk about all the time. "Los Angeles is having an artistic Renaissance," we say. "Now is the time to be in LA." But what do we mean when we say that? Are we talking about fine art, galleries like Hauser and Wirth and Venus over Manhattan opening up shop in Downtown LA? Are we talking about artists who are moving here from Paris, New York, London? What about subculture, the undercurrent of this city, are we seeing the realization of young, bright, radical minds, or were they there all along? It is difficult to recognize history as it happens, predominately because of the fluidity of geography, time, and language. "Los Angeles" means many different things. "Art" means many different things. The 26 artists exhibiting at the Hammer Museum's Biennial "Made in L.A." expand the curbs of the city's "Renaissance." Walking through the various galleries of the Hammer one finds paintings, embroideries, light installations, fashion designs, ephemera, performances, videos, magical objects, cans of Budweiser and more. In one room one sees the dark, natural-history-museum-esque objects of the wrinkling and toothless Kenzi Shiokava. The next room plays a film by 26-year-old Martine Syms, in which the artist reads Black Power articles on her iphone in the dentists office. "Los Angeles" means a lot of things. "Art" means a lot of things. An exhibition featuring "Los Angeles Artists" can only be dynamic, extensive, and provocative. Perhaps the best description of this diverse work is the exhibition's subtitle, "a, the, though, only." Los Angeles is not a dictatorial force over artists who are passive conduits for its agenda. It is the in-between word - the preposition - the place where things and people move, imagine and create. Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" will be on view until August 28, 2016 at the Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA. Text and photographs by Keely Shinners. 

Watch The Artist Announcement for Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" @ The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles

The third iteration of the Hammer’s biennial exhibition continues to highlight the practices of artists working throughout Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. As part of an ongoing series, Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" addresses Los Angeles as a center of activity inseparable from the global network of art production and reveals how artists move fluidly between contexts and respond to their local conditions. Subtitled by the minimalist poet and writer Aram Saroyan as his contribution to the exhibition, Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" extends into such disciplines as dance, fashion, literature, music, film, and performance. Rather than a unifying regional aesthetic, sensibility, or identity historically associated with Los Angeles, Made in L.A. 2016 focuses on artists from different disciplinary backgrounds, allowing individual projects and bodies of work to shape the overall exhibition. It features condensed monographic surveys, comprehensive displays of multiyear projects, the premiere of new bodies of work, and newly commissioned works from emerging artists. Made in L.A. 2016 "a, the, though, only" will be on view from June 12 to August 28, 2016 at Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Boulevard

Highlights From The 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art "The Present In Drag" by Alexander Coggin

The 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art seeks to materialize the digital condition and the paradoxes that increasingly make up the world in 2016: the virtual as the real, nations as brands, people as data, culture as capital, wellness as politics, happiness as GDP, and so on. With its selection of exhibition venues it aims to shape-shift across multiple sites, each one releasing a whiff of contemporary “paradessence” (paradox + essence). The 9th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art "The Present In Drag" will be on view until September 18, 2016. Photographs by Alexander Coggin. 

Riddle Of The Burial Ground Group Show @ Extra City Kunsthal in Antwerp

In concrete-clad tunnels deep within the earth, radioactive matter is being buried on a daily basis. It is only a question of time before this creates an environmental catastrophe. Not a day goes by without men somehow ruining the planet. Every day we somehow mark our existence on this Earthby transforming the landscape, subverting the rules of nature and, slowly but significantly, damaging it beyond repair.  Just as we now can admire vestiges of past civilizations such as ancient ruins, the generations after us will linger overexcavated caverns andunnaturally bright tunnels. Layersand layers of lethal material, piled underground and ready to react: the catacombs of the future. But when exactly will this be? Who are the people that will look at this catastrophe? How do we even know that there will be people on Earth by that time? Taking responsibility for the future has become the resounding imperative of our age, but  how do we relate to something lost in an undefined future? Such are the questions asked in the group exhibition ‘Riddle of the Burial Grounds,’ which stares unblinkingly into this future: a trashed landscape of industrial ruin, where humanity somehow seems to have lost its dominant role. Riddle of The Burial Ground will be on view until July 17th, 2016 at Extra City Kunsthal, Eikelstraat 25, Antwerp. text and photographs by Sara Kaufman

Punk in Britain Opens This Weekend At Galleria Carla Sozzani in Milan

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of punk, the Galleria Carla Sozzani presents “Punk in Britain”. More than 90 photos documenting the key players in British punk who, since the mid 70s, have changed the language of fashion and music in London and around the world will be shown. The exhibition incorporates two parts: the photographs of Simon Barker (Six), Dennis Morris, Sheila Rock, Ray Stevenson, Karen Knorr, Olivier Richon, and drawings, collages and graphics of Jamie Reid with a special section highlighting the videos and photos of John Tiberi. In 1976, the Sex Pistols were shouting "I wanna be Anarchy, in the City" while wearing torn shirts, and dresses with studs purchased at Malcom McLaren and his partner Vivienne Westwood's Chelsea store SEX. McLaren had been instrumental in bringing the Sex Pistols into being and, among the Sex Pistols fans, Siouxsie Sioux, Jordan, Debbie, Billy Idol, Soo Catwoman, Adam Ant became known as the "Bromley Contingent", the group associated with them throughout this period. Together they represented a sort of reaction to the years of English austerity and a new response, young and spontaneous, to the rigid formalism of that time. Punk In Britain opens July 11 and runs until August 28, 2016 at Galleria Carla Sozzani, 

A Sneak Peek At Cindy Sherman's Major Survey Exhibition "Imitation of Life" @ The Broad Museum in Los Angeles

Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life is the first major museum show of Sherman’s work in Los Angeles in nearly 20 years, and the exhibition will fill The Broad’s first-floor galleries with more than 100 works drawn primarily from the Broad collection. “Cindy Sherman’s work has been a touchstone for the Broad collection since Eli and Edye Broad first encountered it in 1982, and Cindy is the only artist in the collection whose work we’ve acquired so deeply and regularly, for more than 30 years,” said Joanne Heyler, founding director of The Broad. “There are 125 Cindy Sherman photographs in the Broad collection, the largest holding of her work in the world, and inaugurating our special exhibitions with an artist whose work sparked the Broads’ deep commitment to contemporary art could not be more appropriate for us." Cindy Sherman: Imitation of Life will open on June 11 and run until October 2, 2016 at The Broad Museum, 221 S. Grand Ave. Downtown Los Angeles, CA. photographs by Oliver Maxwell Kupper