what to see in New York: Petah Coyne- Vermillion Fog

Katrina is on my mind, and apparently Petah Coyne's as well...

Coyne is known for her baroque, globby sculptures and installations that usually have the crafty lushness of a fairy tale gone bad. Her works are always luxurious and ornate.

Here, for Vermilion Fog at Gallerie Lelong, the works consist of swathes of Velvet, plastic flowers, beads and pins, dead birds, and wax. There is a heavy gothic vibe here, a Miss Havisham's wedding cake aesthetic. This funereal splendour can usually get pretty wearying, but this time she's really hit the nail on the head. The works in Vermilion Fog suggest massive Victorian-style funeral effigies for our environmental irresponsibility.

Her installations, with their swirled lengths of purple and black velvet, evoke oil slicks, puddles of tainted water and brackish tide pools clotted with pearls, beads artificial flowers and dead birds. They rise into the air, matted together. What is really interesting about these clusters is the way they writhe and yet are so patently dead- they are glamorous, funereal stand-ins for nature. This is the concept of "nature morte" taken to it's most logical conclusion, with stuffed mallards dive bombing into velvet and flower clusters that look like hurricane thrown debris. I was stunned by these works, both horrified and touched by them.

Less successful, in my mind, are the ceiling hung chandelier-like works shown in the first room, off to the right. The ruffled cozies holding the ropes or cables bother me, they make the works look clumsy and leaden, not aloft and airborne. Also the space was crowded and all one could do was peer in, with orate works like this, it is MUCH more satisfying to be able to wander around it, sense it's breadth and mass in relation to one's own body. My complaint is really more about installation and spatial choices than the works themselves- they looked uncomfortable and a bit ware-housed in that space.

The white wax and fake flower lattice hanging from the right door jamb in particular needs a different space than the ones the gallery offers. It is also a pity that there were no shifts of natural light over the works, no interesting atmospheric lighting at all, in fact. I have no idea if the fault is hers, or the preparators, but the installation of these works is flabby and lacks drama and energy.

Coyne's latest work verges on greatness here : an anger, a helpless fury seeps through the gaudiness and lavish textures to make a veritable wake for our own selfishness and short-sightedness.She has presented an apt and timely as a statement of our collective predicament, using a truly surprising set of materials to do so.

Petah Coyne:

Vermilion Fog

oct 24-dec. 13 2008

gallerie Lelong

528 west 26th st

ny, ny 10001

t: 212 315-0470

http://www.gallerielelong.com/

allo-poly-ploidy

“Primary Structure of the Aequorea

Green-Fluorescent Protein,”

watercolor on paper, 12x9, 2008.

“Allopolyploidy,”

Paintings and Drawings by Martha Lewis

September 18—October 30
Opening Reception: Pegasus Gallery on Thursday, September 25, 4:00-6:00 pm

Pegasus Gallery
Middlesex Community College
100 Training Hill Road
Middletown, Connecticut 06457

Martha Lewis’ mixed media works address the aesthetic and temporal nature of information and human knowledge. Lewis’ works synthesize graphic imagery appropriated from mechanical, architectural, topographical, nautical, decorative and spiritual contexts. Ambiguous hybrid forms are constructed of maps, charts and diagrams that reference the specificity of their specialized fields of origin. The noun, “Allopolyploidy” is defined by Miriam-Webster as “the state of having two or more sets of chromosomes derived from parents of different species or widely differing strains.” Here Lewis’ arresting works nurture ideas and imagery to manifest into new forms of implied purpose and aesthetic ambiguity.


Pegasus Gallery is located on the first floor of Chapman Hall
Hours: Monday & Wednesday 5pm-8pm & Saturday 9:30-1:30pm when classes are in session.


For more information please contact:
Matthew Weber, Art Curator
mweber@mxcc.commnet.edu
860.343.5806

Drawn to Detail

Drawn to Detail
Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery, and Fourth Floor Hallway Gallery
August 30, 2008 – January 4, 2009
(public opening exhibition reception: September 4 from 7 – 9 pm )

Drawn to Detail features a variety of contemporary drawings with a very particular focus. This exhibition displays the work of 26 American artists who explore extreme attention to detail, obsessive mark-making, repetition, patterning, laborious process, all-over intricate design, and horror vacui (fear of empty space). These artists draw with extreme attention to detail as a reaction to today’s hectic lifestyle and technological advancements, and also because of their desire to make sense of the changing world around them. In addition to traditional mediums of graphite, charcoal, and pen and ink, these artists also work with materials such as string, tape and smoke, and practices adopted from the world of craft.
In today’s fast-paced, digital world, we rarely have time for detail. Attention deficit disorders prevail, while advertisers feed on our need to multitask and to find timesaving shortcuts wherever we can. The artists in this exhibition add detail, work with a detailed visual vocabulary, or even detail the passage of time by listing and recording the particulars of events. They can render an abstraction or a recognizable image, sometimes so small that the viewer needs a magnifying glass to decipher it. Artists like Julie Mehretu, whose work derives from sources as wide-ranging as architectural and city plans to weather maps, make individual marks which seem to disappear into “the larger context of the whole” as the viewer moves back from the image.
The extreme detail found throughout the works in this exhibition suggests that much of it is a result of careful planning. Yet many of these drawings in fact develop organically, each line a response to the last. Slowly building an image out of tiny dots, lines, cuts, and repetitive marks can becomes a form of meditation for some artists. Some artists use a strategy descended from conceptual art – that of creating a set of rules that determine the outcome of the work. For example, artist Tom Friedman, creases a piece of paper and then draws lines on all the creases, creating order out of chaos and chaos out of order.
The intense labor of these artists results in the complete entrancement of the viewer. We are attracted to these images because they require close scrutiny. When the drawing fills our vision we get lost in the enveloping detail, finding that the miniscule can be as overwhelming as the colossal. This experience makes us rethink how we relate to the world. It is reassuring to know that there are those who do stop and examine things with care, who value the direct mark of the hand, and who find a meditative calm in slowing down.

The exhibition features artists:

Alice Attie, Astrid Bowlby, Jim Dingilian, Jacob El Hanani, Dave Eppley, Tom Friedman, Darina Karpov, Laura Kim, Ricardo Lanzarini, Martha Lewis, Cynthia Lin, Marco Maggi, Louise Marshall, Jane Masters, Julie Mehretu, Tadashi Moriyama, Mary O’Malley, Carol Prusa, Jessica Deane Rosner, Andrea Sulzer, Kako Ueda, Julia von Eichel, Rachel Perry Welty, David Omar White, Martin Wilner, and Daniel Zeller.

Drawn to Detail is accompanied by a 48-page catalogue.
Funding for the exhibition and publication has been generously provided by Joyce and Edward Linde, Erica and Robert Mason, Melissa S. Meyer, Anthony and Beth Terrana, Penny and Jeff Vinik, and one anonymous member of the Museum’s Collections and Exhibitions Committee.
This exhibition is organized by Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo and Koch Curatorial Fellows Kate Dempsey and Nina Bozicnik.

Drawn to Detail Exhibition Programs
Artist Talks Selected Saturdays at 3 pm Free with Campus admission \Third Floor Lobby The act of creating artwork can be just as exciting as looking at the final product. Meet the artists as they discuss their work on view in Drawn to Detail:
September 13: Dave Eppley
September 20: Rachel Perry Welty
October 18: David Omar White
November 1: Jane Masters
November 15: Martha Lewis
December 6: Mary O’Malley
December 13: Jessica Rosner

Eye Wonder Family Program Selected Sundays,
drop-in from 1 – 3 pm
Free with Campus admission Museum Galleries

Eye Wonder focuses on “seeing” and “doing” in art museums and combines careful looking with creative art projects centered on DeCordova’s changing exhibitions. Eye Wonder celebrates the uniqueness of contemporary artists and their processes with family-friendly guided tours and hands-on art activities. This drop-in program is perfect for families with children ages 6 and up. The upcoming programs will be centered on Drawn to Detail.
The following artists will host:
September 14: Dave Eppley
October 19: Mary O’ Malley
November 16: Jessica Rosner
December 14: Jane Masters

Bank of America’s Museums on Us™DeCordova is proud to be a participant in Bank of America’s Museums on Us™ program. All visitors who present a valid Bank of America ATM, debit or credit card, along with photo identification will receive free general admission to DeCordova’s campus on the first weekend of each month through April 2009. This program excludes special events.

For a complete listing of DeCordova’s programs, visit the Calendar section.
General Information: DeCordova is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm and on selected Monday holidays. General admission during Museum hours is $12 for adults, $8 for senior citizens, students, and youth ages 6–12. Children age 5 and under, Lincoln residents, and Active Duty Military Personnel and their dependents are admitted free.

The Sculpture Park is open year round during daylight hours. The Store @ DeCordova and the School Gallery are open Monday through Thursday, 9:30 am to 7:30 pm , Friday through Saturday, 9:30 am to 5:30 pm , and Sunday 10:30 am to 5:30 pm . The Café @ DeCordova is open Tuesday from noon to 3 pm, and Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 4 pm. Guided public tours of the Museum’s main galleries take place every Thursday at 1 and Sunday at 2 pm. Tours of the Sculpture Park are given on Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm from May to Oct.

All guided public tours are free with Campus admission.
Visit www.decordova.org or call 781/259-8355 for further information.

Routes due to open soon...

For the past few days I have been in the gallery installing work for this show, which looks like it's really going to be terrific. Curator Debbie Hesse has found some interesting artists, many of whom are making site-specific works for this show.

My contribution is a long scroll piece with fuzzy chenille yarn bits coming off of it, which loop themselves around elements in the room meant to be ignored in most gallery settings. Alarm system boxes, sprinklers, light switches, heating vents and such. I will also have two panel paintings strategically placed next to the fire extinguishers( I should have pictures to update this soon).

The show is in the renovated remains of a parachute factory, and also houses the Yale Program for Recovery. It is a huge space riddled with a maze of ceiling ducts and columns. This makes it an intriguing site to place work in- it is easy for things to get lost or dwarfed. I like the idea of my art reaching new audiences, and having something different to look at will most likely be appreciated by the many clients of this program.

This is the inaugural exhibition in this space, so there is lots of excitement surrounding the project which adds a certain frisson to the whole thing!