Marian Goodman Gallery: “William Kentridge: Seeing Double.”

In this first show of Mr. Kentridge’s latest drawings, prints, and stereoscopic images in the U.S., the Marian Goodman Gallery presents a selection of the artist’s work that takes sight, or double vision, as the subject of study. While the exhibit also includes some of Mr. Kentridge’s latest works in watercolor, sculpture, collage prints, and tapestry, the pieces that center on vision are the most exciting and complex in the exhibition.

Mr. Kentridge was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1955 from parents of Jewish European descent who were lawyers famous for defending victims of the apartheid. His family background set him as somewhat of an outsider in respect to other whites of European descent in the context of the Apartheid, and the work he creates reflects the complexity of his perspective. Perspective, in fact, lies at the center of the exhibit as the viewer’s own sight is acted upon through the use of different methods: from double sided mirrors, to stereoscopes, to images that appear distorted unless observed through the right tool at the right angle, or which are constantly transforming.

Transformation also plays a central role in Mr. Kentridge’s works at the Goodman Gallery. In the past, he has created works that deal with animation, using charcoals to create visual narratives that keep on changing as he erases or adds new elements to the narrative. Similarly, we see Kentridge working with animation on his latest piece, What Will Come, an 8-minute filmic anamorphosis in which a cylindrical mirror situated at the center of a round canvas reflects a distorted animation as it develops in circular motion. By presenting as the work the whole machinery (distorted image and mirror working together), the artist confronts the receiver with the choice of looking at either the distorted version of the film or that made “right” by the mirror. In fact, the two coexist, and the viewer’s double observation is only a matter of focusing. Double vision, then, becomes not just about seeing an image twice, but about the complexity of that image coexisting in different forms simultaneously, depending on the focus of the viewer. Furthermore, animation contributes to the possibility of an infinity of perspectives, as the images keep on shifting and changing into new forms.

Similarly to the short anamorphosis, in the series of stereoscopic photogravures in the gallery the viewer’s own action changes the image, making it look three-dimensional and, to some extent, bringing it to life. Yet Mr. Kentridge’s work is not necessarily completed by the viewer’s action, but rather complicated through it. The possibilities offered by distortion go beyond the dualism of right and wrong, or real and distorted, as the image that undergoes distortion in fact becomes clearer with manipulation. Kentridge’s works at the Goodman Gallery go beyond “seeing double,” putting into question the way perception works and the role of human intervention in the act of observing, resonating more with quantum physics than with the playfulness of distorted mirrors found in amusement parks.

http://mariangoodman.com/mg/nyc.html

Barbara Gladstone Gallery: “Shirin Neshat”

The small exhibit of Shirin Neshat’s latest works at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery centers on two short films and five large photographs by the artist whose works focuses on questions of gender, religion and nation. Neshat was born in Iran in 1957, where she received a westernized education and was eventually sent to the United States to complete her higher education. At this time, the Iranian Revolution began, and Neshat found herself in exhile from Iran for the next eleven years. It was not until 1990 that Neshat was able to return to Iran, experiencing the changes that had occurred to the country and to herself during the years of the revolution.

Neshat’s position as a woman in between cultures and countries greatly defines the subject of her work. In this latest exhibition, Neshat presents two short films based on her ongoing exploration of Shahrnush Parsipur’s novel Women Without Men. The novel centers around five different women characters living in Iran in 1953 and dealing with oppression, and Neshat has been working on exploring the psychologies of these characters since 2003, through video installations, photography, short films and a feature length film currently in progress.

The two short films presented at the Barbara Gladstone Gallery lie at the center of the exhibition. The narratives focus on the characters of Muniz, a young woman who feels passionately about social justice, and Faezeh, a religious woman whose sense of identity is crushed by rape. The two films, shown in separate rooms of the gallery, are aesthetically seductive: the women are beautiful and full of dignity, the landscapes both desolate and magical, the images flow in a slow rhythm and each frame is planned in great detail. In one scene, for instance, Faezeh walks into a house where a dining room table, set for a great feast, has decayed with time into a composition of dead flowers and rotting foods, reminiscent of a classical still nature.

The beauty of the aesthetic choices in Ms. Neshat’s films contrasts the violence of the subjects and plots of the shorts: rape, homicide, suicide, violence, political tyranny, and more. Yet the films present characters that coexist with the circumstances by creating their own perspective on things. Furthermore, the characters bring in the viewer, no matter how difficult or personal the issue. In Neshat’s works, the women speak in whispers or very softly, creating a sense of intimacy with the viewer. The small rooms where the films are projected further contribute to the sense of privacy of the narratives. Meanwhile, the fluid Persian voiceovers, together with the melodic soundtracks, lull the audience into a dream like state, where the real and the surreal come together and imagination becomes a strategy for redefining identity and for political resistance. As for Ms. Neshat, both characters in the two short films live in between worlds: the political and the personal, the imaginary and the real, the individual and the national. Neshat’s elegant films offer a great contribution to the interpretation and representation of Iranian identity and women’s issues in our time.

http://www.gladstonegallery.com/default.asp

Whitney Museum: “Lawrence Weiner: AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE”

Lawrence Weiner’s 40 year retrospective at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art provides the perfect occasion to do some research on the fundaments of conceptual art, its rejection of form and the characteristic questioning of the materials of art. For the most part, the exhibition showcases an array of Weiner’s short sentences, printed in different sizes, colors, fonts and materials, and applied to the walls of the whole fourth floor of the gallery. Entering the show feels like entering a firework spectacle of words, letters and symbols, the exhibition containing nearly 120 works in a space with a surface area increased by additional division walls. Many of the sentences sound like descriptions of a work, as Stretched as Tightly as Possible/ (Satin) & (Petroleum Jelly), written in block letters made of black vinyl. Others are more enigmatic fragments, while others yet are explicit art manifestos. How to make sense of this assortment of words? What is Weiner doing with language and art?

Coherently with the assumptions of conceptual art, Weiner’s work does not focus on representation, where a work should be understood in its objective, but rather focuses on the concepts behind making art. Weiner, who began as a sculptor, working with real objects, eventually turned to language as a material through which to express the idea or content behind his work. In Declaration of Intent (1968), a manifesto regarding the making of art on display at the Whitney, Weiner states that: "1. The artist may construct the piece. 2. The piece may be fabricated. 3. The piece need not be built. Each being equal and consistent with the intent of the artist the decision as to condition rests with the receiver upon the occasion of receivership." In this declaration, we find Weiner’s egalitarian focus in the way his works should be received: works made of language, accessible to a wide public, open to many interpretations. Weiner’s work exists in its relationship to the receiver, and it acknowledges that relationship as a principal concept behind the creation of a piece.

The title of the Whitney retrospective, “AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE,” seems coherent with Weiner’s conceptual framework of subjective interpretation and accessibility to art, placing the visitor’s sight at the center of the exhibit experience. Arguably, however, in the tightly packed space of words and phrases, it feels as though there is little room for the viewer’s own imagination. Maybe due to the nature of a retrospective, which seeks to cover such a wide range of the artist’s works, or to the choices of excited curators, the space in the exhibition feels over crowded and somewhat weighed down by the density of the works. The sentences are too many to be contemplated for long, as the brain curiously moves on to the next word puzzle and has hardly the time to respond to what it just perceived. While the exhibition presents an important collection of Weiner’s works, be prepared for a language overload.

http://whitney.org/weiner/

Whitney Museum: “Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.”

In Before the Battle (Chickin’ Dumplin’), a white man kneeling on one knee holds on to a Black woman’s hips as he sucks on her bare nipple. The woman’s mouth is ajar, as her neck cranes forward and her weight shifts backwards. The image is frozen, with the woman’s hand opening up as she drops a piece of chicken, the chicken still in mid-air. The work, highly erotically charged, leaves the viewer in an ambiguous position: is the woman merely surprised by an act of intimacy? Has a similar act occurred before? Is she participating in the act voluntarily? Yet why must the man hold her hips down as he, completely dressed, touches the woman’s naked body? How much resistance lies in the woman’s body? The title of the work itself suggests this is a moment before battle, but we could wonder: which struggle? Does the piece refer to the Civil War? Is the relationship in the image a moment of relative peace, of union? Or are we witnessing an act of oppression?

The ambiguity of Before the Battle (Chickin’ Dumplin’) is characteristic of Kara Walker’s work and of the entirety of her exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art: “Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love.” Walker, born in 1969, spent the first years of her life in integrated California, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia, when she was 13. Here, Walker learned through personal experience about the tense racial relationships still existing in the United States. Walker’s hybrid experience of American culture has greatly informed her work, which looks at issues of race, gender and sexuality without the dualisms common to stereotyping and extremist political views. Just like the title of the exhibit, which brings together four opposing roles into one whole, Walker’s subjects and the relationships amongst them challenge the viewer to see beyond oppressor and victim, good and bad, black and white, man and woman.

The current exhibition at the Whitney brings together a wide range of Walker’s works: from her black silouhette murals, to smaller vignettes, to her short films and wall projections. The museum has transformed a whole floor into a Walker-land, where the viewer is at times encircled by Walker’s figures, and at times brought down to her knees in order to better appreciate the details of a small projection in the corner of a room. This exhibition provides a great coverage of the development of Walker’s career as an artist, as well as a wonderful opportunity to become immersed in her world and experience the rhythms of her visual language for an extended period of time.

Whitney Museum of American Art
October 11, 2007 - February 3, 2008
http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/kara_walker/index.html