“In Alice in wonderland, when the white rabbit vanished down the hole, we encounter many strange and surreal visions. I thought the white rabbit would be a good metaphor for this exhibition.” -Albert Watson
This week, famed photographer Albert Watson‘s new exhibit, The White Rabbit, opens at Italy’s Forma gallery. In the new series, Watson takes on the role of the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, and invites his audience on a trip through his photographic world – one made of stunning portraits (many celebrity), fashion photography, his recent Las Vegas series, grandiose panoramas and brand new photographs.
Watson was born in Scotland in 1942. After finishing his studies at the Royal College of Art in London, he moved to the USA at the beginning of the seventies. He opened a studio in Los Angeles and in New York. Despite a serious physical disability (he is blind in one eye) he soon became famous as a fashion and portrait photographer, for magazines such as Vogue, Rolling Stone, The Face, VIBE and Newsweek, and his work has appeared on the cover of leading international publications. Apart from creating several advertising campaigns for cosmetics and clothing corporations such as Gap, Levi’s, Revlon and Chanel, he has directed over 500 TV commercials and short movies. In his frequent travels all over the world, from Morocco to Europe and the USA, he has consolidated his own very precise vision, which makes him a reference for originality, innovation and language. His work has been collected in important photography books, including Cyclops (1994), Maroc (1998) and in major solo exhibitions.
For more information, check out www.formafoto.it
Photo above by Albert Watson.
Over the long weekend, I finally got a chance to see “Maelstrom” (2009) by American artist Roxy Paine. Set on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Maelstrom” is a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture. Walking out onto the rooftop, surrounded by gorgeous views of the city and Central Park, visitors are encompassed by the sculpture – what initially appears to be a chaotic maze of tree branches. It is Paine’s largest and most ambitious work to date, and it gives one a sense of being immersed in the middle of a cataclysmic force of nature.
But there is definitely order to the piece – the steel itself implies this, as does the piece’s overall grace. And the juxtaposition of the natural world and the built environment – “Maelstrom” is one of the Paine’s Dendroids, based on systems like vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia – further reinforces Paine’s balanced success. The installation is up through November 29th, and I definitely recommend stopping by. I know I’ll be back, if only to see how Paine’s piece plays with the changing seasons in NY.
For more information, visit The Met’s website. And check out the installation video below.
Vasily Kandinsky's "Composition 8" (Komposition 8), July 1923 Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 inches (140 x 201 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift. 37.262
Vasily Kandinsky, "Blue Segment" (Blaues Segment), 1921 Oil on canvas, 47 1/2 x 55 1/8 inches (120.6 x 140.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection. 49.1181
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Vasily Kandinsky, "Improvisation 28" (second version) (Improvisation 28 [zweite Fassung), 1912 Oil on canvas, 43 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches (111.4 x 162.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding CollectionBy gift. 37.239"
This month, the Guggenheim NY presents a full-scale retropsective of Vasily Kandinsky’s paintings. “Kandinsky” will include nearly 100 of the artist’s most important canvases, all from 1907 to 1942, and drawing from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, and the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau in Munich, along with significant private and public collections.
The retrospective will focus on Kandinsky’s oeuvre and the major events that informed his life: two world wars and the Russian revolutions. Despite these events, or perhaps because of them, Kandinsky’s work did not develop in detachment or isolation. It will also consider his thematic motifs, like the horse and rider, mountainous landscapes, seascapes and apocalyptic imagery . The exhibit was shown at the Centre Pompidou and at the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich before coming to the Guggenheim.
Interestingly, Solomon R. Guggenheim himself began collecting Kandinsky’s work in 1929. Guggenheim even visited Kandisnky in Germany in 1930 at the Bauhaus, and purchased over 150 Kandinsky paintings over his lifetime. The upcoming exhibit coincides with the museum’s 50th anniversary celebrations. It runs through January 2010.
For more information, visit the Guggenheim.
Images courtesy of the Guggenheim.
Tim Burton. (American, b. 1958); Untitled (The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories); 1982–1984; Pen and ink, marker, and colored pencil on paper, 10 x 9\
Tim Burton; (American, b. 1958); Blue Girl with Wine. c. 1997; Oil on canvas, 28 x 22\
Throughout his career, Tim Burton has always pushed the cinematic envelope. This November, the Museum of Modern Art presents a major retrospective of his work. Tim Burton considers his evolution as both a director and concept artist for live-action and animated films, and as an artist, illustrator, photographer and writer. The show will trace Burton’s creative history, from his earliest childhood drawings through his mature work in film.
The exhibition will bring together over 700 examples of rarely or never-before-seen drawings, paintings, photographs, storyboards, moving-image works, puppets, maquettes, costumes, and cinematic ephemera, and include an extensive film series spanning Burton’s 27-year career. Artworks and objects will be drawn primarily from the artist’s personal archive, as well as studio archives and the private collections of Burton’s collaborators. His student films and early, nonprofessional films will also be on display. International and domestic posters from Burton’s films will be on display in the theater lobby galleries.
In conjunction with Tim Burton, MoMA presents The Lurid Beauty of Monsters, a series of films that influenced, inspired, and intrigued Burton. Taking as its starting point a screening of
horror movies that Burton organized in Burbank in 1977, the series includes such films as Jason
and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963), Frankenstein (James Whale, 1931), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920), The Pit and the Pendulum (Roger Corman, 1961), Nosferatu (F. W. Murnau, 1922), and Earthquake (Mark Robson, 1974), and will be screened from December 2, 2009 to April 26, 2010.
The show runs through April 2010.
Images courtesy of MoMA. For more info, visit www.moma.org
"Power To The People" by Shepard Fairey; Image courtesy of Obey Giant Art
"Mujer Fatal" by Shepard Fairey; Image courtesy of Obey Giant Art
Shepard Fairey is probably best known for his iconic, stylized portrait of Barack Obama, accented by the word “HOPE,” one of the most memorable images of the last presidential campaign. He originally gained notoriety by translating pop culture imagery into guerilla propaganda campaigns, most prominently with his ubiquitous “OBEY” images. Fairey’s recent work involves complex, multi-layered portraits of counter-cultural revolutionary figures combined with politically-charged propaganda style imagery. He’s currently the subject of a major traveling museum survey, “Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand.”
Now, Fairey plans to unveil a new project at The Fountainhead Residency (an artist’s studio program in residential Miami) at Art Basel Miami Beach in early December. ”The Public Works: A New Mural Project” will be a site-specific mural consisting of a barricade structure covered with the Fairey’s signature, multi-layered portraits of counter-cultural revolutionary figures and propaganda style imagery. The blank canvas of the barricade will provide a significant expanse for Fairey to develop a cohesive series of images. The project is being produced by Country Club, a gallery with locations in Los Angeles and Cincinnati, in partnership with the Miami Art Museum and The Fountainhead Residency.
![Vasily Kandinsky, "Improvisation 28" (second version) (Improvisation 28 [zweite Fassung]), 1912 Oil on canvas, 43 7/8 x 63 7/8 inches (111.4 x 162.1 cm) Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, By gift. 37.239](http://www.annacarnick.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/3_Improvisation-28_37.239-300x206.jpg "3_Improvisation 28_37.239")
