Theodora Allen, ‘Plot, No. 6,’ 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe.

May 15, 2015
Art

By: Kevin Greenberg

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2015 FRIEZE ART FAIR

The annual spring thaw brings with it the return of Frieze, New York’s own “destination” art fair. Situated on relatively remote Randall’s Island, the fair invites New Yorkers to take a ferry in fair weather to wander the booths of a broad range of dealers and galleries from all over the world. Grassy enclaves surrounding the fair create an idyllic setting, while inside, general madness reigns, as serious buyers and casual spectators rub shoulders amidst an overwhelming spectacle of market extravagance, artisanal food consumption (this year there were even more opportunities to sample the wares of Brooklyn-based favorites like Marlow & Sons and Roberta’s than in years past), and first-rate people watching. What follows are a very few highlights (and lowlights) from this year’s installment.

Miguel Abreu, reliably one of Manhattan’s most iconoclastic and conceptually interesting outposts, presents a broad range of pieces by a number of its established artists, as well as a few newcomers: the sublimely subtle gradients of Scott Lyall’s Nude and Black Glass were highlights (if maybe a little too on-trend), as were selections from Rey Akdogan‘s “Episode” series. Gradients and moirés were widespread at the fair, often laid over tight patterns or textures (call it the last gasp of the Tauba effect) and Lyall’s canvases, unadorned and splendid in their subtlety, were some of the best.

Shelagh Wakely’s spare, watery abstractions for London-based Richard Saltoun recall classic Cy Twombly and also the bruises and coagulations of a teenage self-scarification.

Elsewhere, Los Angeles-based David Kordansky showcases a quintet of typically lovely paintings by Lesley Vance, here operating in an especially graphic mode: the precise delineations and tunneling depth of her compositions, occasionally rendered in pastels if not bold racing hues, mark a departure from the Spanish still life influences of the work that helped her earn her reputation as one of America’s most talented young abstractionists.

Los Angeles-based Blum & Poe, which also operates satellites in New York and Tokyo, gives its booth over to a suite of unabashedly pretty compositions by Theodora Allen, rendered in deep indigo hues and ghostly, paler blues.

Lisa Cooley gives her booth over to Andy Coolquitt, one of her heaviest hitters, who presents a triptych of beautifully jumbled assemblages that simultaneously recall Kandinsky and the dusty corners of the Salvation Army.

Sadly, some of the fair’s most high-profile installations fall flat, like Richard Prince’s inkjet Instagram prints at Gagosian, which seem like a desperate bid for relevancy by an artist who doesn’t really need to stoop. Prince should stick to what he does best and leave this kind of chatter to other Richards who are happy to take a less high-minded approach to their work (Kern, for example).

Unsurprisingly, the internet and its vernacular loom large at Frieze this year. Besides Prince’s Instagrams, Gabriele de Santis’ Can’t Take My Eyes Off You at Frutta, an installation featuring a pair of sunbathing emojis, is an eye-roller, and other examples abound at other booths. Hopefully MyIdol, the creepy Chinese simulacrum generator that recently went viral, will be old news before any of this year’s participating artists have a chance to delve into its potential as an art-making tool.

Other apparent crowd pleasers, like Jonathan Horowitz’s “collective” piece for Gavin Brown, also rankle. Visitors to the booth are given a brush and some black paint and invited to contribute one square of a hundred in a series of pieces that, once assembled into a grid, will be sold for a hundred thousand dollars apiece. Plainly meant to be a winking nod to the excess of the contemporary art market and the inherently subjective value of any artwork, the piece still carries an unsavory whiff of old-school Dickensian exploitation of the lower (in this case, non-gallery-showing artist) classes. And while it might seem mystifying that anyone would volunteer five minutes of their own time to make one thousand dollars for Gavin Brown, most of the chairs at the painting tables were nonetheless full when I passed by, and Leonardo DiCaprio had apparently already expressed interest in acquiring one example of the work.

Frieze Art Fair New York runs through Sunday at Randall’s Island Park, New York.

Rey Akdogan, 'Episode VI (GF),' 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York.

By: Kevin Greenberg

Von Ammon Co. Remakes the DC Gallery Scene

At his Georgetown space, curator Todd von Ammon establishes a new template for the modern-day art gallery, bringing stimulating work to the nation’s capital, from digital media to sculptures by Helmut Lang.

Russell Tovey Is Terrified of the Future

The English actor soldiers through a bleak future in the new HBO series Years and Years, illuminating the refugee crisis as the moral center of a Manchester family buffeted by a distressing world that is just like our own—only more so.

Christina Kruse Finds Her Balance

After experimenting with photography, collage, and painting, the German model-turned-artist explores a sense of equilibrium in a new gallery show of her intricate sculptures inspired by the Bauhaus movement.

Claire Oswalt Follows Her Intuition

After planning to study medicine before becoming a writer and now an artist, the Austin native approaches her raw, delicate paintings, collages, drawings, and textiles with an open mind and trusts in her own instincts to roam as freely as the Texas landscape allows.

Bari Ziperstein's Ceramics Bridge Art and Commerce

With practices spanning both fine art and design, the Los Angeles-based sculptor and ceramicist questions the consumerist system while taking part in it—all with a feminist perspective.

FUMI NAGASAKA STARTS A 'TEENAGE RIOT'

In her second book, the Japanese photographer captures the individual personalities and æsthetics of four adolescent girls in their hometowns in a collection that is both intimate and anthropological.

ARTIST CONIE VALLESE'S MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER INSPIRED HER COLLECTION FOR AGMES

In her first jewelry collaboration, the painter and sculptor translates her large-scale plaster heads into necklaces, earrings, and brooches inspired by her family with the help of the two sisters behind sustainable line AGMES.

ECKHAUS LATTA MAKES ITS MUSEUM DÉBUT AT THE WHITNEY

For their first-ever museum exhibition, fashion groundbreakers Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta have created an immersive experience incorporating retail, art, and one-off clothing designs in their continuing drive to question established norms.

COLBY MUGRABI FINDS SURPRISING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FASHION, ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND DESIGN ON MINNIE MUSE

Drawing on a wealth of visual knowledge gleaned from hours spent poring over books, Mugrabi reinterprets the concept of personal style to encompass art, architecture, and design as well in articles and her signature Muse Boards, which offer a new interpretation of the latest fashion collections.

BENOÎT MAIRE TURNS PHILOSOPHY INTO ART

The French artist pulls from his studies in philosophy and epistemology to create swirling abstract paintings and mixed-media sculptures assembled from found materials that touch on the basis of knowledge and rationality in the search for ultimate truth.

JENNA GRIBBON'S PAINTINGS SUBVERT THE MALE GAZE

The young painter reinvents centuries of art history in works that merge realism and abstraction, beauty and camp, and subversion and self-absorption.

MATS GUSTAFSON ILLUSTRATES THE BODY'S FRAGILITY IN 'NUDE'

In a book of watercolors, the Swedish artist and illustrator turns away from his fashion work for more intimate portraits that reflect the fragility of the human body as a protest against the slow response to the AIDS crisis.

NEW YORK BY THE LAST MAGAZINE: ARTIST BANKS VIOLETTE RETURNS TO THE ART WORLD AFTER HIS EARLY HEAVY METAL-INSPIRED CREATIONS

After bursting onto the New York art scene straight out of Columbia in the mid-2000s with his heavy metal-inspired works, the provocative artist is returning to the city from a stint upstate with newly sophisticated and subdued pieces.