Art Knowledge News - Keeping You in Touch with the World of Art...

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• The Myrtle Beach Art Museum To Feature "From Tree to Treasure"
• The Luise Ross Gallery to Show Self-Taught Artist Jose Rivera
• Hanart TZ Gallery to Present New Works by Yi Zhou
• The Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum Presents 'Gordon Parks: Crossroads'
• Animism ~ Modernity Through the Looking Glass at the Generali Foundation
• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Presents 110 Years of Sculpture
• Wexler Gallery to present An Award Winning Group Show ~ (In)Between
• Brooklyn Museum to host Retrospective of Acclaimed Artists Gilbert & George
• Miami-Based Artist Hernan Bas Solos at the Brooklyn Museum
• British Painter Hurvin Anderson to Solo at Studio Museum in Harlem
• Phil Holt solos at Invisible NYC
• The Jewish Museum Presents a Major Exhibition of Abstract Expressionism
• Jen Bekman Gallery Presents Thirty-Seven Photographs by Gregory Krum
• Paul Kasmin Gallery Presents Paintings by Simon Hantai
• Tate Britain will exhibit 'Altermodern ~ The Fourth Tate Triennial'
• Dosa Kim solos at Invisible NYC
• Newark Museum Unveils a Commissioned Installation by Yinka Shonibare MBE
• The Oklahoma City Museum of Arts Shows New Deal Artworks From the Smithsonian Collection
• This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News

The Myrtle Beach Art Museum To Feature "From Tree to Treasure" Posted: 24 Dec 2011 09:37 PM PST Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.- The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum is proud to present "From Tree to Treasure" modern examples of the traditional art of woodturning, on view at the museum from January 15th through April 26th 2012. Invitations to exhibit were extended to artists whose work exemplifies not only the time-honored traditional purposes and functions of wood but also to those who integrate personal statements and designs with new materials and technologies. "From Tree to Treasure" features over 50 works by 38 artists from across the United States and around the world, many of them members of the American Association of Woodturners. The exhibition will showcase a wide variety of style and presentations, from pedestal and tabletop pieces to wall hangings. Works on exhibit feature both representative and abstract styles.  Each creation reflects not only the technique used by the artist to shape the piece, but a variety of surface treatments as well. Pieces may have surfaces which have been blackened, perhaps symbolizing a darkness of spirit; weathering to simulate aging; the application of one or more layers of paint; and the addition of precious metals, glass or other materials. Many intricate shapes and designs can be made by turning wood. There are two distinct methods of turning wood: spindle turning and faceplate turning. In spindle turning, the wood is fixed between 2 points. The spur center digs in to the wood and is powered by a motor. The other, a hard center or a live center may be a point or set of points in the tailstock. In face plate turning, the wood is secured with screws to a faceplate or in a chuck or jig. the tail stock and a center may also be used for added support on large pieces with a faceplate. Most bowls, platters and many vessels are face plate turned, while, Pens, furniture legs, spindles, and some vessels are spindle turned. The method used may differ depending on the shape of the blank and the technique of the turner, and both methods may be used on the same piece. When wood is cut in such a way that the fiber being cut is not supported by the fiber below it, it tends to separate and tear. This "tearout" exhibits a rough, highly damaged looking surface texture and greatly reduces the value of any product exhibiting it. The direction of cut is different in spindle turning and faceplate turning because cutting in the wrong direction can cause tearout. Spindle turning cuts are made from high points toward the axis on the outside of the piece, and from the axis toward the outside when hollowing. When faceplate turning, the opposite applies. The Art Museum of Myrtle Beach first opened to the public in June, 1997, but was conceived some 13 years earlier by a small group of Myrtle Beach visionaries - artists, art patrons, business leaders, cultural enthusiasts and other private citizens. The building itself dates to 1924, when it was built by textile industry mogul Eugene Cannon in the Cabana section of Myrtle Beach. It was subsequently sold to Col. Elliot White Springs for use by his family and executives of Springs Industries and re-christened Springmaid Villa. In 1975, the Villa changed hands again and was slated for demolition. A campaign to save Springmaid Villa began, led initially by Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild President Gaye Sanders Fisher. The building's survival, however, was contingent on its relocation: a Herculean effort organized by Guild member and Myrtle Beach Councilman Harry Charles, along with his wife, Jane. Relocating the 150-ton structure required two flatbed trucks for three full days, with a team of city employees, utility workers and every member of the Guild working side by side. The Villa was taken to its new home eight miles south, an undeveloped property whose donation by the Myrtle Beach Farms Company, precursor to the Burroughs & Chapin Company, had been negotiated by Harry Charles. Charles was also instrumental in creating the Springmaid Villa Art Museum Corporation, a new non-profit with a board of trustees charged with converting and later managing the property as a public Art Museum. Following a decade-long fundraising effort, the Museum opened its doors in June, 1997. In recognition of the land donation, it was re-named for the founders of Myrtle Beach Farms and became the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org

The Luise Ross Gallery to Show Self-Taught Artist Jose Rivera Posted: 24 Dec 2011 08:00 PM PST New York City.- the Luise Ross Gallery is pleased to present "Jose Rivera" a solo exhibition, on view at the gallery from January 5th through February 4th 2012. In his first solo exhibtiion, self-taught artist, Jose Rivera will show his sculpture, mixed media collages and works on paper. Constructed with materials Rivera has on hand, such as the innards of a discarded TV, postal envelopes, playing cards, or domino pieces, the detritus of our homes find new life and new meaning in his obsessive and labyrinthine creations. An acoustic guitar completely covered in broken pieces of crayon is transformed into a colorful, and lyrical three dimensional mosaic.

Hanart TZ Gallery to Present New Works by Yi Zhou Posted: 24 Dec 2011 07:57 PM PST Hong Kong.- Hanart TZ Gallery is pleased to present "Sculpture Labyrinth: A Journey of My Mind - New Works by Yi Zhou" on view at the gallery from January 6th through January 30th 2012. This solo exhibition represents the first attempt of the artist to re-interpret her body of work from the past decade. The artist has revisited some of her most significant sculptural pieces for these new animations, abstracting and animating them with 3D modeling.  For her debut at Hanart TZ Gallery, Yi Zhou will also present three new sculptures. This will be the first time since her 2011 Venice Biennale Collateral Exhibition "Days of Yi" that the artist shows her video "Labyrinth".

The Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum Presents 'Gordon Parks: Crossroads' Posted: 24 Dec 2011 07:24 PM PST Logan, Kansas.- The Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum is pleased to present "Gordon Parks: Crossroads" on view aat the museum through February 5th 2012. This fascinating exhibition features 45 memorable photographs drawn from all aspects of Parks' storied career. "I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty. I could have just as easily picked up a knife or gun, like many of my childhood friends did . . . most of whom were murdered or put in prison . . . but I chose not to go that way. I felt that I could somehow subdue these evils by doing something beautiful that people recognize me by, and thus make a whole different life for myself". - Gordon Parks.

Animism ~ Modernity Through the Looking Glass at the Generali Foundation Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:53 PM PST VIENNA.- Animism is a multipart exhibition project; after episodes in Antwerp and Berne, it is now on display at the Generali Foundation. The exhibition Animism. Modernity through the Looking Glass takes up the current broad-based reassessment of modernity, examining the ethnological conception of animism as it was framed in the context of colonialism as well as the concept of animism in psychoanalysis. In Vienna, the city of Sigmund Freud, one focus of the exhibition is on aesthetic approaches that subject the distinction between the psychological "inside" world and the material "outside" world to critical scrutiny. By the end of the nineteenth century, animism is defined as a set of superstitious beliefs, as a "projection" and misapprehension of reality in which the "primitive mind" populates the world with souls and spirits, endowing things and nature with life, agency, and subjecthood. At the height of European colonialism, animism becomes the quintessence of civilization's opposite, the exemplary expression of a primitive "state of nature" in which psyche and nature appear as inextricably fused. In the context of colonial modernity this image of animism operated as a mirror, in which modernity affirms itself by showing what it is not. To be modern meant to leave animism behind and to separate the world in accordance with the dualist divides that have been in effect since Descartes: soul and body, mind and matter.

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Presents 110 Years of Sculpture Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:38 PM PST EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - A major new exhibition, which uses the extraordinary collection at Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to explore the development of sculpture over the last 110 years, opened in Edinburgh this week. The Sculpture Show highlights the enormous diversity of sculptural practice in this period, bringing together some 150 works, by artists such as Auguste Rodin, Edgar Degas, Barbara Hepworth and Damien Hirst. This fascinating overview of Modern and Contemporary sculpture also includes key loans from private and public collections, and brings the story right up to date, with works by this year's Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce and nominee Karla Black. A series of exquisite photographs by Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce, which give the viewer an insight into the artists' research and inspirations, are also on display. These images are being shown in conjunction with Untitled (After Rietveld), a haunting fluorescent light work by Boyce which was recently gifted to the galleries. Simon Groom, Director of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art said: 'The Sculpture Show gives us a fantastic opportunity to showcase the huge strengths of the collection in innovative ways. It also allows us to celebrate the specific strengths of contemporary art in Scotland, with the inclusion of works by this year's Turner Prize nominee Karla Black and winner Martin Boyce, as well as past winners including Simon Starling, Martin Creed and Douglas Gordon. With major international loans and new commissions, this history of sculpture is the history of how art became contemporary.' The Sculpture Show takes over both floors of the Gallery's main building, and also extend into the grounds, where a recent work by Roger Hiorns has been installed on Charles Jencks's Landform. Comprising two decommissioned aircraft engines from the United States Air Force, this spectacular work is on loan from the Arts Council Collection and is being shown for the first time in the UK. It joins an array of sculpture on permanent display in the grounds of the Gallery's two buildings, Modern One and Two. The exhibition demonstrates the depth, richness and range of sculpture in the Gallery's collection. It begins with collages, reliefs and assemblages made by Cubist, Surrealist and Constructivist artists in the early 20th Century (including masterpieces by Picasso and Man Ray), and demonstrates the continuing influence of these techniques throughout the century, up to contemporary artists such as Toby Paterson. Other highlights from the first half of the century include Impressionist sculptures by Degas, Rodin and Medardo Rosso, as well as displays devoted to Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson, Eric Gill and Jacob Epstein (including Epstein's rarely seen monumental alabaster carving Consummatum Est (1936-7)). After a worldwide tour, Ron Mueck's monumental work A Girl (2006) has returned to Edinburgh to form the centerpiece of The Sculpture Show. The 5-metre mixed-media sculpture of a newborn baby, rendered in breathtaking detail on an enormous scale, was acquired following the phenomenally successful Mueck exhibition, which drew over 130,000 visitors at the Scottish National Gallery in 2006. A Girl features in a display devoted to Super-realist sculpture, which also includes Duane Hanson's celebrated Tourists. Further rooms illustrate the impact of surrealism on sculpture of, or about the human body including works by Marcel Duchamp, Sarah Lucas, Giacometti and Hans Bellmer. The upper galleries chart developments in sculpture from the 1960s onwards, exploring the ways in which the definition of the artform has expanded in the last 50 years. Crucial to this is the work of artists such as Joseph Beuys, Donald Judd, Ian Hamilton Finlay and Bruce McLean and six new works by the Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, one of the key members of the Arte Povera movement of the 1960s, and one of the elder statesmen of contemporary art. The Way Things Go by Peter Fischli and David Weiss brings film and video into The Sculpture Show, the enchanting 29 minute film features a large kinetic sculpture which comes to life as a 100 foot long chain reaction. A striking late work by American Minimalist artist Sol LeWitt has been specially installed for the exhibition. Wall Drawing #1136 (2004) covers three walls of a single room, and reaches almost 22 metres in length. The work, which took a team of eight people a month to complete, immerses the viewer in a vibrant world of colour. It comprises 149 vertical bands, hand-painted in an irregular sequence of primary and secondary colours, intersected by the sweeping curved form which snakes around the room. This work, which is part of the ARTIST ROOMS collection, has never before been on display in Scotland. Throughout the exhibition, a series of changing displays of recent sculpture will be shown. The first of these is devoted to leading Glasgow-based sculptor Nick Evans, who is currently exploring the collection as part of a SNGMA / Creative Scotland Fellowship. Visit The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art at : http://www.nationalgalleries.org/

Wexler Gallery to present An Award Winning Group Show ~ (In)Between Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:21 PM PST   PHILADELPHIA, PA - The Wexler Gallery is proud to present (In)Between;  a group show curated by Sienna Freeman, Associate Director of the Wexler Gallery.  The exhibition is based loosely on the idea of Vanitas - 16th century Dutch still-life paintings that celebrate life's pains and pleasures while meditating on their inevitable loss.  Featured artists include Damien Hirst, Randall Sellers, Adelaide Paul, Tim Tate, Anne Siems, Dirk Staschke and Joe Boruchow.   The show will run from May 2nd through June 28th, 2008.  An Opening Reception will take place on First Friday, May 2nd from 5-8pm.   Working in two and three dimensions, these seven artists investigate the transitory nature of life and the contemporary human experience.  Although their mediums and experiences in the art world are diverse, these artists are linked by a certain uncanny quality possessed by their work.  Often illustrated with imagery revolving around the passage of time, nature, and earthly belongings, this quality begs the viewer to consider their own mortality and question their perception of reality. Media icon Damian Hirst is known world-wide for challenging the boundaries between art, science, and popular culture.  A social mirror of sorts, Hirst's work is an examination of life and death as well as a celebration of the commonplace and the absurd.  Best known for his "Natural History" works, which present dead animals in vitrines suspended in formaldehyde, his works recast fundamental questions concerning the meaning of life and the fragility of existence.  In 2007, Hirst gained the record for the most expensive work of art sold by a living artist when For the Love of God, a human skull recreated in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds, sold to a private collector for $100,000,000.   Hirst has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Into Me / Out of Me, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York (2006) and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in Tate Britain, the 50th Venice Biennale (2003).  Solo exhibitions include Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo in 2005, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2005 and Archaeological Museum, Naples in 2004. He is also the recipaint of numerous awards including the DAAD fellowship in Berlin in 1994 and the Turner Prize in 1995.  The artist currently lives and works in London and Devon, UK.     Ceramic artist Adelaide Paul creates sensitively articulated and beautifully finished animal figures that, according to critic Glenn Brown, have "a cool but non-threatening demeanor."  Commonly taking the form of dogs and horses, Paul's animals are covered in hand-stitched brightly colored leather.  Having stated that "muscle is meat and, on great many levels, so are we," the artist poses her subjects in provocative positions that take on human characteristics and emotions.  Through her work, Paul seeks to pose questions to the viewer regarding the "alternately cloyingly sentimental and brutally callous relationship between humans and animals, both domesticated and wild."   Paul has a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA from Louisiana State University.  Her work can be found in the collections of The Riverside Art Museum, CA and The Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, NY.  She is the recipient of the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Grant (2005), the Window of Opportunity Grant from the Leeway Foundation (2004 and 2002) and a Residency at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA (2001).   Paul currently lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.   Tim Tate, a Washington DC native who has worked with glass as a medium for sculpture for over 25 years, found out he was HIV-positive in the early 1980's.   "I didn't work with glass until I found out I was HIV-positive," Tate explains, noting that he has had no physical imparities because of his condition.  Dealing with HIV is very much part of the creative drive behind Tate's work, with which he hopes to challenge his viewers into thinking more conceptually about glass.  In his latest body of work, Tate creates Video Reliquaries which are composed of hand cast and blown glass, electronic components, and original video.  Using iconographic symbols and images, the artist meditates upon the universal concepts of home, luck, fate, life & death, and hope.     Tate is co-founder of the Washington Glass School and has exhibited world-wide.  His work can be found in the permanent collection of many museums and institutions including The Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Mint Museum.  Tate was named one of the "50 Most Distinguished Glass Artists" by Judith Neiswander (curator/British Museum) and is the winner of 2008 Niche Awards for Glass.     German born painter Anne Siems is an artist whose work comes from an "intuitive, visceral place."  Interested in "old things that have had a life of their own, stories and all the realms in between," Siems' dream-like paintings often follow an open-ended narrative that invites the viewer to complete their stories.  Objects such as clocks, mirrors, keys, fruit, and flowers are shown interacting with ghostly human and animal figures, conjuring up ideas about life and death, sensuality, sexuality, and nature.   Referencing themes commonly found in Vanita painting and early American Folk Art, Siems' paintings encourage the viewer to explore their own thoughts on the psyche and the spirit.   Siems has shown in several group and solo shows, both in the US and internationally.  She is the recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship (1986) from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN and has an MFA from Hochschule der kunste in Berlin, Germany. Presently, she lives and works in Seattle, WA.   Dirk Staschke is ceramicist and sculptor who weaves subtle allegory into a timeless art form.  According to the artist much of his work is "based in human figuration and at times references sculptural history as well as contemporary culture. Often, the work combines these incongruent elements in a manner that asserts larger questions with anthropological undertones… the end result is an odd symbiosis of past and present."  Figurative, architectural, and ornamental in nature, Staschke's work explores lines between the rational and irrational, the beautiful, and the grotesque.   With an MFA from Alfred University, Staschke has taught at a variety of institutions such as New York University, Nassau Community College, and the University of Montevallo.  His work has exhibited at many esteemed venues and can be found in the permanent collection of The Renwick Alliance in Washington, DC.  Staschke presently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada.     Randall Sellers currently lives and works in Jim Thorpe, PA, after spending 10 years based in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia.  Best known for his tiny and extremely detailed graphite drawings of imaginary cities, constructed landscapes, and secret interactions between nymph-like men and women, Sellers sees the images he creates as "separate, tiny worlds climbing out of (his) subconscious."  Often no bigger then a few inches in diameter, Sellers' work offers the viewer an intimate peak into fantasized worlds and private moments in the artist's life.  (In)Between will feature new works in Gouache by the artist, all of which have never been exhibited in the Philadelphia area.   Sellers has a BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and has studied at Temple University in Rome, Italy.  He has received national and international acclaim, exhibiting in solo shows at Spector Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York, NY, and Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.  His work can be found in the permanent collections of  prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, (Judith Rothschild Collection), Philadelphia Museum of Art, High Museum in Atlanta, New Museum of Contemporary Art (Altoids Collection), and 21C Museum in Louisville, Kentucky. Philadelphia-based Joe Boruchow is a self taught artist working in the ancient medium of paper cut-out.  According to Boruchow, "making images out of paper is like sculpting and performing surgery simultaneously. It is an exercise in excision (it's what you remove that is important) … my goal is to refine an idea to its essence."  Composed from a single piece of black paper mounted on white satin, his cut-outs play with contemporary social and political themes, symbols, and situations.  Referencing Mexican poster art aesthetics, his work frequently depicts the simple and quiet moments in life that build up an existence.   Boruchow has shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including a 2007 juried show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, at which he won first prize.  Well known for his DIY "guerilla flyering" endeavors, his commercial poster work can also be found on telephone poles, in record stores, coffee shops, and other public spaces in the Philadelphia area.   The Wexler Gallery is located at 201 North Third Street in the historical district of Old City Philadelphia. We invite you to visit our gallery or explore our website at www.wexlergallery.com  or call (215) 923-7030.

Brooklyn Museum to host Retrospective of Acclaimed Artists Gilbert & George Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:20 PM PST BROOKLYN, NY.- The Brooklyn Museum will be the final venue of an international tour of the first retrospective in more than twenty years of art by the internationally acclaimed artists Gilbert & George. On view from October 3, 2008, through January 11, 2009, the exhibition comprises of more than ninety pictures produced since 1970, among them more than a dozen that will be seen only in the Brooklyn presentation.

Miami-Based Artist Hernan Bas Solos at the Brooklyn Museum Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:19 PM PST BROOKLYN, NY.- Thirty-eight works of art in various media from one of Miami's most celebrated young artists, Hernan Bas, will be featured in a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Hernan Bas: Works from the Rubell Family Collection draws from art collected over the past ten years by the Rubell family. Designed like the chapters of a book, this exhibition presents the development of Bas in a manner that can be read symbolically and literally. This exhibition will be on view from February 27–May 24, 2009 at the Brooklyn Museum.

British Painter Hurvin Anderson to Solo at Studio Museum in Harlem Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:18 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- The Studio Museum in Harlem will present British painter Hurvin Anderson in his first U.S. solo museum exhibition, Hurvin Anderson: Peter's Series 2007-2009. This exhibition will include seven paintings and nine works on paper that engage traditions of landscape painting and abstraction. Hurvin Anderson (b. 1965) was born in Birmingham, UK to Jamaican parents. He attended the Wimbledon School of Art from 1991-94, and the Royal College of Art from 1996-98. His work reflects his British upbringing alongside with his Caribbean heritage. On exhibition 16 July through 25 October, 2009.

Phil Holt solos at Invisible NYC Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:17 PM PST   New York City - Invisible NYC is proud to host, Immolation, a solo-show featuring new work by San Francisco based artist, Phil Holt.

The Jewish Museum Presents a Major Exhibition of Abstract Expressionism Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:16 PM PST NEW YORK CITY - The Jewish Museum presents Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 from May 4 through September 21, 2008. In the first major U.S. exhibition in 20 years to rethink Abstract Expressionism and the movements that followed, fifty key works by 31 artists – among them Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Mark Rothko – will be viewed from the perspectives of influential, rival art critics Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, the artists, and popular culture. Following its New York City showing, the exhibition will travel to the Saint Louis Art Museum from October 19, 2008 to January 11, 2009, and the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY from February 13 to May 31, 2009. Beginning in the 1940s, artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning created paintings and sculptures that catapulted American art onto the international stage, making New York City the successor to prewar Paris as the mecca for the avant-garde. Two rival art critics played a crucial role in the reception of the new American painting and sculpture: the highly influential New York intellectuals Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg. In the pages of magazines as diverse as Partisan Review, The Nation, ARTnews, and Vogue, these critics wrote incisively about seismic changes in the art world, often disagreeing with each other vehemently. By interpreting the significance of the most daring art of their times, their advocacy propelled the artists and their art to the forefront of the public imagination. In 1949, when Life – then the nation's most popular magazine and a barometer of mainstream taste – featured a piece on Jackson Pollock, it was clear that Clement Greenberg's influence had begun to be felt beyond the world of art. By the late 1950s, Pollock and de Kooning were virtually household names and Abstract Expressionism was widely known throughout America and internationally. In a period fueled by Cold War politics, the mushrooming of mass media, and surging consumerism, Rosenberg promoted action – his idea of the creative, physical act of making art – against Greenberg's belief in abstraction and the formal purity of the art object. The artists they championed included Pollock and de Kooning, Hans Hofmann and Arshile Gorky, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell, Jules Olitski and Philip Guston, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Action/Abstraction presents major paintings and sculptures from this decisive era, surveying the first generation of Abstract Expressionists as well as later artists who built on their achievements. Context rooms in the exhibition will feature personal correspondence, magazines and newspapers, film and television clips, and photographs that shed light on the cultural and social climate of the 1940s to the 1970s. The works in the exhibition, arranged in thematic sections, are grouped to evoke the rivalry of Greenberg and Rosenberg and the epic transformation of American art in the postwar period. Visitors will see important Pollock paintings, including Convergence (1952), hanging near classic masterpieces by de Kooning, such as Gotham News (1955). Despite the fact that the roster of Abstract Expressionist artists included many outsiders – among them immigrant Greeks, Russians, Armenians, and Jews – and showed the influence of non-Western art, such as Native American and African works, Greenberg and Rosenberg often disregarded minority artists, particularly women and African Americans. Notable among the critics' "blind spots" were the painters Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan and Norman Lewis. Krasner is represented in the exhibition by two pictures, including Untitled (1948) – one of her transformative Little Image paintings. Grace Hartigan's energetic canvases fused figuration with abstraction. Norman Lewis created vibrant, abstract works that referenced jazz and African textiles. Among the many highlights in Action/Abstraction are Barnett Newman's Genesis – The Break (1946) and Onement IV (1949). Such works represent a bridge to the next phase of Abstract Expressionism: Color Field Painting. Helen Frankenthaler's breakthrough painting Mountains and Sea (1952), which was highly influential for a number of other painters, is the opening work in a gallery devoted to Post-Painterly Abstraction. The exhibition culminates in the work of artists who chose divergent paths. In his monumental Marriage of Reason and Squalor (1959), Frank Stella took Greenberg's thinking about art for art's sake, flatness and artistic purity to the next level. Allan Kaprow, in contrast, hewing to Rosenberg's concept of action, invented Happenings and Environments, which redirected the focus from the artist as actor to the audience as creators. Kaprow's 1962 Environment, Words, has been specially reinvented for Action/Abstraction by contemporary artist Martha Rosler. The show brings together masterworks from major institutions and collections throughout the U.S. and abroad. Action/Abstraction was conceived and organized by Norman L. Kleeblatt, Susan & Elihu Rose Chief Curator of The Jewish Museum, with consulting curators Maurice Berger, Senior Fellow at The Vera List Center for Art & Politics, New School University and Senior Research Scholar of the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland; Douglas Dreishpoon, Senior Curator of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; and Charlotte Eyerman, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Maurice Berger curated the context rooms in the exhibition. About The Jewish Museum The Jewish Museum was established on January 20, 1904 when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection.  Today, The Jewish Museum maintains an important collection of 26,000 objects – paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, archaeological artifacts, ceremonial objects, and broadcast media.  Widely admired for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds, The Jewish Museum is the preeminent institution exploring the intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture. For general information on The Jewish Museum, the public may visit the Museum's Web site at http://www.thejewishmuseum.org or call 212.423.3200.  The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, in Manhattan.

Jen Bekman Gallery Presents Thirty-Seven Photographs by Gregory Krum Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:15 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Jen Bekman Gallery presents ...Practice..., thirty-seven photographs by Gregory Krum. ..."Practice"... is Krum's first solo exhibition in New York and it will be on view through Sunday, June 27th, at Jen Bekman Gallery, located at 6 Spring Street, New York, New York. Titled after Gerhard Richter's book The Daily Practice of Painting, ...Practice... embraces Richter's convictions about art and art making. In a series of carefully grouped photographs, Krum explores the ways in which truth is derived simply by virtue of belief.

Paul Kasmin Gallery Presents Paintings by Simon Hantai Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:14 PM PST NEW YORK, NY.- Paul Kasmin Gallery presents an exhibition of paintings by Simon Hantaï at the 293 Tenth Avenue space. Held from March 19 – April 24th, it will be followed by an exhibition of his earlier works at Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris from April 8 - May 22, 2010. Curated by Molly Warnock, this will be Hantaï's first showing in America since his inclusion in the exhibition "As Painting: Division and Displacement" at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2001.

Tate Britain will exhibit 'Altermodern ~ The Fourth Tate Triennial' Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:13 PM PST   LONDON - Altermodern, the fourth Tate Triennial, which will present some of the best new contemporary art in Britain, opens at Tate Britain. It includes works in all media - from photography, film and video, to extraordinary installations - and features many new works being shown for the first time. On exhibition 3 February through 26 April, 2009 at the Tate Britain.

Dosa Kim solos at Invisible NYC Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:12 PM PST   New York City - Invisible NYC is proud to host, High Contrast, a solo-exhibit by mixed-media artist Dosa Kim. Dosa Kim is an Atlanta based designer and illustrator.  Most of his artwork and design reflect United States southern culture informed by traditional and quasi-traditional Asian aesthetic and compositional formats.  Currently, Dosa consults   for various promoters, advertising agencies, and clothing lines in Atlanta, Georgia. His widely recognized work can be seen in various galleries and group shows in the US south.

Newark Museum Unveils a Commissioned Installation by Yinka Shonibare MBE Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:11 PM PST NEWARK, NJ.- The Newark Museum, located in Newark, New Jersey, has commissioned a major site-specific installation by the internationally acclaimed artist Yinka Shonibare MBE to commemorate the Museum's Centennial. One of Shonibare's most ambitious works to date, Party Time: Re-imagine America is set in the mahogany-paneled dining room of the Ballantine House, the 1885 mansion and National Historic Landmark that is part of the Newark Museum campus, where it will be on view through January 3, 2010. Concurrent to the Newark Museum commission, The Brooklyn Museum presents the first major survey of the work of Yinka Shonibare MBE on view through September 20, 2009.

The Oklahoma City Museum of Arts Shows New Deal Artworks From the Smithsonian Collection Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:10 PM PST Oklahoma City.- The Oklahoma City Museum, of Arts presents "1934: A New Deal for Artists" from May 26th to August 21st. The exhibiton celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Public Works of Art Project by drawing on the Smithsonian American Art Museum's unparalleled collection of vibrant paintings created for the program. The 56 paintings in the exhibition are a lasting visual record of America at a specific moment in time. George Gurney, deputy chief curator, organized the exhibition with Ann Prentice Wagner, independent curator. Federal officials in the 1930s understood how essential art was to sustaining America's spirit. During the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration created the Public Works of Art Project, which lasted only six months from mid-December 1933 to June 1934. The purpose of the program was to alleviate the distress of professional, unemployed American artists by paying them to produce artwork that could be used to embellish public buildings. The program was administered under the Treasury Department by art professionals in 16 different regions of the country. Artists from across the United States who participated in the program were encouraged to depict "the American Scene," but they were allowed to interpret this idea freely. They painted regional, recognizable subjects ranging from portraits to cityscapes and images of city life to landscapes and depictions of rural life that reminded the public of quintessential American values such as hard work, community, and optimism. These artworks, which were displayed in schools, libraries, post offices, museums, and government buildings, vividly capture the realities and ideals of Depression-era America. The exhibition is arranged into eight sections: "American People," "City Life," "Labor," "Industry," "Leisure," "The City," "The Country," and "Nature." Works from 13 of the 16 regions established by the Advisory Committee to the Treasury on Fine Arts are represented in the exhibition. The Public Works of Art Project employed artists from across the country including Ilya Bolotowsky, Lily Furedi, and Max Arthur Cohn in New York City; Harry Gottlieb and Douglass Crockwell in upstate New York; Herman Maril in Maryland; Gale Stockwell in Missouri; E. Dewey Albinson in Minnesota; E. Martin Hennings in New Mexico; and Millard Sheets in California. Ross Dickinson paints the confrontation between man and nature in his painting of southern California, Valley Farms (1934). He contrasts the verdant green, irrigated valley with the dry, reddish-brown hills, recalling the appeal of fertile California for many Midwestern farmers escaping the hopelessness of the Dust Bowl. Several artists chose to depict American ingenuity. Stadium lighting was still rare when Morris Kantor painted Baseball at Night (1934), which depicts a game at the Clarkstown Country Club's Sports Centre in West Nyack, N.Y. Ray Strong's panoramic Golden Gate Bridge (1934) pays homage to the engineering feats required to build the iconic San Francisco structure. Old Pennsylvania Farm in Winter (1934) by Arthur E. Cederquist features a prominent row of poles providing telephone service and possibly electricity, a rare modern amenity in rural America. The program was open to artists who were denied other opportunities, such as African Americans and Asian Americans. African American artists like Earle Richardson, who painted Employment of Negroes in Agriculture (1934), were welcomed, but only about 10 such artists were employed by the project. Richardson, who was a native New Yorker, chose to set his painting of quietly dignified workers in the South to make a broad statement about race. In the Seattle area, where Kenjiro Nomura lived, many Japanese Americans made a living as farmers, but they were subject to laws that prevented foreigners from owning land and other prejudices. Nomura's painting The Farm (1934) depicts a darker view of rural life with threatening clouds on the horizon. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art serves over 125,000 visitors annually from all fifty states and over thirty foreign countries and hosts special exhibitions drawn from throughout the world. The Museum's collection covers a period of five centuries with strengths in American and European art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and includes a comprehensive collection of glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly. The Museum's Noble Theater is the region's premiere repertoire cinema, screening the finest international, independent, and classic films. Amenities include the Museum School, which offers classes for students of all ages as well as fall, winter, and summer art camps for youths; a teacher resource center; the Museum Store, Roof Terrace, and the Museum Cafe, whose cuisine is complemented by a full-service bar complete with cocktails, specialty coffees, and afternoon tea. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.okcmoa.com

This Week in Review in Art Knowledge News Posted: 24 Dec 2011 06:09 PM PST This is a new feature for the subscribers and visitors to Art Knowledge News (AKN), that will enable you to see "thumbnail descriptions" of the last ninety (90) articles and art images that we published. This will allow you to visit any article that you may have missed ; or re-visit any article or image of particular interest. Every day the article "thumbnail images" will change. For you to see the entire last ninety images just click : here . When opened that also will allow you to change the language from English to anyone of 54 other languages, by clicking your language choice on the upper left corner of our Home Page.  You can share any article we publish with the eleven (11) social websites we offer like Twitter, Flicker, Linkedin, Facebook, etc. by one click on the image shown at the end of each opened article.  Last, but not least, you can email or print any entire article by using an icon visible to the right side of an article's headline.

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