As I am still in the afterglow of my Asia trip, the Van Gogh and Japan exhibition in Amsterdam caught my eye. Image: Vincent Van Gogh, Courtesan (After Eisen) (1887)

Top 10 Modern and Contemporary Exhibitions Worth Visiting in Spring/Summer 2018

April 20, 2018

As spring slowly begins to make its appearance on the west coast, my attention has finally turned towards summer and the many fantastic art exhibitions that are opening in art cities around the world. As in past art seasons compiling my top ten list, I research exhibitions with my own location, travel plans, and geography in mind, but then make sure to consider shows that examine artists and topics that are of particular interest and/or especially significant to my research and current teaching directions. This summer, I am struck by how many shows are mirroring the anxiety and search for meaning in the escalating global tensions all of us are experiencing. Themes around violence, protest, and social transformation intermingle with themes around creative exchange, public performance, and interdisciplinary experimentation. For those of you wanting to research further and set up both real and fantasy travel itineraries, I recommend both a subscription to ArtForum and their artguide app for quick access to hundreds of art cities around the world and the dates and places where one can see fantastic art shows. I present these exhibitions not in ranking order, but working from Vancouver outwards. Enjoy :)

Bombhead

Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver: Currently—June 17, 2018

Starting in my own backyard, I am especially happy to recommend a timely and globally significant exhibition organized and curated by one of my academic mentors and dissertation supervisors from my grad school days, Dr. John O’Brian, Professor Emeritus in Canadian and Modern Art History at UBC. Bombhead is described as "a look at the emergence and impact of the nuclear age as represented by artists and their art" and the exhibition brings together a diverse set of art works, along with raising critical questions about nuclear risk. As a child of the 1980s who lived through bomb drills and the ever-present threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union, I was witness to the nuclear disarmament following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 that seemed to signal a new era. But as we have seen in the past few years, and as this exhibition helps situate, rising global tensions (with North Korea and Russia, along with emerging nuclear powers in the Middle East), raises fears for the planet as nuclear war is once again a very real possibility.

Bruce Conner, Bombhead (1989/2002)

Victorian Radicals: From the Pre-Raphaelited to the Arts and Crafts Movement

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: June 13—September 8, 2019

We do not often associate the word "Victorian" with "radical" in our perception of the historical moment associated with nineteenth century England, but it is true that some of the most challenging and transgressive subjects for a new art emerged there as artists looked to the effects of industrialization, urbanization, and the reality of everyday social and political conditions. Focusing on the Pre-Raphaelite movement, this exhibition looks especially comprehensive as it will feature a diverse cross section of art forms (paintings, drawings, books, sculpture, textiles, and decorative arts—many never before exhibited outside of the UK).

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, La Donna della Finestra (1881)

Plato in L.A.: Contemporary Artists’ Visions

J. Paul Getty Museum Getty Villa, Los Angeles: Currently—September 3, 2018

With the recent focus on John Paul Getty in movies and television (as I also touched on last week), many people do not realize that the Getty Villa in Malibu has been undergoing extension renovations and updates to reinstall the permanent collection. Located in Los Angeles, the Villa was built by Getty in the 1950s as an attempt to reimagine the most luxurious building of the ancient world-- the Villa of the Papyri-- and to house his collection of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities. As it reopens this spring, one of the more unusual temporary exhibitions at the Villa features contemporary artists in conversation with the Greek philosopher Plato. Plato is foundational in art history for his influential thinking and philosophies concerning beauty, imitation, and inspiration. I am beyond intrigued by how artists such as Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, and Adrian Piper will be arranged around this theme, and to see how the Getty may use their permanent collection to produce this show.

Uprisings

Contemporary Art University Museum, Mexico City: Currently—July 29, 2018

This is an exhibition that came onto my radar while researching emerging theories around the avant-garde. Uprisings is one of those excellent under-the-radar shows that so many university galleries produce all over the world. Curated by French art historian Georges Didi Huberman, the exhibition examines the collective emotion generated around political events, and how those events are shaped through visual and artistic representation. As the translated text from the website explains: "The figure of the uprising is presented through more than 250 works including manuscripts, documents, paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and films, to show how artists have addressed these issues at different historical moments. The exhibition route follows a sensitive and intuitive path in which the view can be focused on concrete examples across five areas: Elements (unchained); Gestures (intense); Words (exclaimed); Conflicts (lit); and Desires (indestructible)."

Gilles Caron's Catcher demonstrators, Battle of the Bogside, Derry, Northern Ireland, August 1969 (1969)

Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965-2016

Museum of Modern Art, New York: Currently—July 22, 2018

Following the events of September 11, 2001, one of the most powerful art projects to emerge in New York was conceptual artist Adrian Piper's series Everything Will Be Taken Away. At the heart of the project was a public performance where Piper enlisted volunteers to have the words "Everything will be taken away" henna tattooed on their foreheads and set out into the city. Working and going about their everyday lives, the participants kept journals of their interactions with the New Yorkers who would read the sentence from their foreheads in moments of transit and encounters with family, friends, and strangers. Over the years, Piper would exhibit parts of this project around the world (in 2017, our Paris/Documenta field school was able to see her work in Kassel) and it has continued to resonate in ways that move well beyond the 9/11 moment. In my own courses, Piper's work has found an important place, especially as issues concerning gender, racism, violence, and social activism continue to animate our shared discourse. The Museum of Modern Art has finally given Piper a long overdue retrospective, and it is at the top of my list of must-see shows this summer!

Adrian Piper, from the Everything Will Be Taken Away series (2003)

Giacometti

Guggenheim Museum, New York: June 8—September 12, 2018

Alberto Giacometti is an artist that I introduce to describe how European artists dealt with the aftermath and unspeakable violence of WWII. His works have continually sparked some of the most incredible discussions and questions in my classroom, and every year I have at least one art student who declares Giacometti as their new influence or muse. As one of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century, the Swiss-born artist became famous for his figurative compositions examining the human condition, suffering, and the surrealist influence of exploring desires and impulses just under the radar of human consciousness. His works can be found in museums and art collections around the world, and the Guggenheim Museum has planned a sprawling exhibition set to bring together over 175 of Giacometti's art works. It will no doubt be a stunning show.

Alberto Giacometti, Nose (Le nez) (1947)

An Incomplete History of Protest

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: Currently—August 27, 2018

This past December when I visited New York, I was also witness to one of the worst snow storms in the city's history (a BOMB cyclone!). While there, we were unable to visit this top-of-my-list show as the Whitney had to be closed to deal with the wintery aftermath. Luckily, An Incomplete History of Protest is still on exhibition at the beautiful Whitney Museum of American Art, and the show's themes concerning artist activism, collective action, and social engagement are even more relevant and pressing now as the age of renewed political movements takes hold globally. As the catalogue underscores: "At the root of the exhibition is the belief that artists play a profound role in transforming their time and shaping the future."

Annette Lemieux Black Mass (1991)

Van Gogh and Japan

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam: Currently—June 24, 2018

Ever since returning home from Japan, I have been thinking about the trip I took to the Hiroshige Museum of Art in Shizuoka City (that I blogged about last week) where I was able to get a closer look at the Ukiyo-e prints that inspired many of the most important modern artists of Paris. Van Gogh's work, in particular, was a central focus at the museum and his avant-garde vision for new forms and content owes a huge debt to the Japanese. Coincidentally, Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum is featuring an exhibition this spring looking at the artist's interest and fascination in the popular visual culture represented in these particular prints. There is a wonderful website accompanying the show where you can access fantastic resources (for example, this video) looking at how Van Gogh began to see with a Japanese eye. If you find yourself in Amsterdam this summer, go check this out!

Vincent Van Gogh, Courtesan (After Eisen) (1887)

Frida Kahlo: Making Her Self Up

Victoria and Albert Museum, London: June 16—November 4, 2018

As I gear up (pun intended) to teach a special topics course on Art and Fashion this fall, I have paid close attention to all of the fashion influenced exhibitions that have very much formed a trend in art museums around the world over the past several years. This show featuring legendary surrealist artist Frida Kahlo at the V&A Museum in London looks to be an outstanding addition to the recent interest in examining the role fashion plays in the lives and art practice of artists. Featuring personal artifacts and pieces of clothing from Kahlo's life, this exhibition focuses on connecting Kahlo's art practice to her love of self-fashioning and everyday performance of the self. This is another exhibition at the top of my list for the summer!

Nickolas Muray, Frida Kahlo in blue satin blouse, 1939 (1939)

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863)

Louvre Museum, Paris: Currently—July 23, 2018

Last but not least, a summer art journey would not be complete without a trip to Paris. This summer, the Louvre is presenting another timely exhibition looking at French painter Eugène Delacroix, one of the most important painters in all of art history. Working during a time of heightened political turmoil in early to mid-19th century Paris, the painter is now credited with paving the road for modernist interventions and influence that transformed the direction and role artists would play in the public and political life of nation, along with reframing representations of social conflict and resolution. This is an important must-see show coming at a pivotal moment in France's history.

Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (1830)

Da Vinci was born on this day, April 15th, in 1452. Detail from Andy Warhol, Colored Mona Lisa (1963), celebrating the cult of celebrity around Leonardo da Vinci when the Mona Lisa famously toured the US in 1963.

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

April 15, 2018

Fighting jet lag (still!) and trying to get back into a home routine, I spent the past week catching up with life at home and glued to late night cable news trying to make sense of the escalating craziness in the US and the evolving situation in Syria. It is times like these when the happenings of the art world seem to fade from significance, but I was cheered up Friday night when attending the graduating show of the BFA Fine Arts students from my department (at Kwantlen Polytechnic University). Exhibiting projects making up the culmination of a year's hard work, the artists touched upon many themes that brought conversation and critical reflection to the tumultuous moment we are living through. Whether it be the experience of immigration and living between different traditions and cultural expectations, attention to the body and the kinetics of experience, challenging ideas about gender norms and representation, or bringing attention to the destructive nature of abstracted knowledge and "fake news," the individuals in this show, as in many similar graduating shows around North America, are continuing the role of contemporary artists globally to bring visibility to the marginalized and speak truth to power. I urge you to support local art schools and attend the graduating shows that you will see begin to pop up at local colleges and universities over the next several weeks. I can promise it will not only renew your belief in the potential of young creative talent, but also in the power of art to bridge the social, political, and cultural divide that appears all too often to keep us isolated from one another. Enjoy this week's links!

"An Indigenous Artist’s Futuristic Vision of Traditional Transformation Masks"

hyperallergic.com

"The Internet Apologizes …"

nymag.com

"Do You Think Mona Lisa Is Happy? Then You Probably Are Too, New Research Says"

artnet.com

"After Zaha's "vagina" stadium, here are six more examples of yonic architecture"

dezeen.com

"A Collector Follows His Nose Through the Maze of Modern Art"

vulture.com

"Cy Twombly and the Transporting, Transforming Power of Art That Barely Uses the Tools of Art"

vulture.com

"7 Tips for Applying to Art School"

arsty.net

"Podcast episode 27: the enduring appeal of enigmatic Beuys. Plus, lost masterpieces reborn (PODCAST)"

artnewspaper.com

"‘Drawing Is Always a Struggle’: An Interview with Art Spiegelman"

nybooks.com

"A Landslide of Classic Art Is About to Enter the Public Domain"

theatlantic.com

Lady AIKO, The Tale of Mr. Skull and Mermaids (2015), a street art mural first shown at Cony Art Walls, Cony Island, is heavily influenced by the Edo era Ukiyo-e prints that form an important part of Japanese visual culture.

Location | Japan: Ukiyo-E and the Visual Culture of Everyday Life

April 12, 2018

To visit Japan in person is to be immersed in a non-stop aesthetic experience—an experience shaped by visual storytelling, fantasy, space-making, and attention at every level to artful detail, ranging from the luxurious to the most everyday and banal. This was perhaps my biggest takeaway impression of a place that has been at the very top of my travel bucket list for as long as I can remember. Not surprisingly, the country that has popularized manga and anime into universally recognized forms of mass contemporary visual culture also has a deeply entangled and shared history with Western forms of art. Enter Ukiyo-e print culture, and my own deep fascination with how representations of Japanese urban life came to influence the art of the fleeting and the everyday pioneered in Europe by the Impressionists and modern avant-garde art movements .

Translated, Ukiyo-e literally means “pictures of the floating world” and helps categorize a style of Japanese woodblock painting and printmaking from the early 17th to late 19th century Edo period. Innovating techniques of production and wide distribution that would allow for popular consumption of these images throughout Japan and then around the world by the late nineteenth century, talented Japanese artists turned to printmaking as a way to connect with and share art to the widest possible audience. Importantly, the subject of Ukiyo-e prints references the fleeting nature and everyday instances of urban life, emphasizing pleasure, beauty, landscapes, and the fashions of the time. This, and overt references to the transformative nature of city life, would come to influence and align with French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire’s challenge to artists of his time—to represent and draw inspiration from the everyday and ephemeral urban world around them, and not slavishly adhere to the traditions and forms of the ancient past. Critically, for Baudelaire, and the new generation of modern and avant-garde artists he would come to influence, this was more than just a change in the subject or content for art, it was also equally a revolution in the form of art.

Edouard Manet, Portrait of Emile Zola (1868). Note the presence of Ukiyo-e prints on the far left and upper right register of Manet's painting-- a nod to the fashionable Japanese print culture that was part of the Paris urban scene from the mid to late 19th century.

The critical discussion of Ukiyo-e prints forms a key section of any course where I discuss the turn towards modernism in art. Representing the contemporary world was considered a revolutionary move away from the guiding purpose of high art, since at least the time of the Renaissance, to value images of the biblical past, historical record, and images of universal values and truths via metaphor. Turning instead to the banalities and fleeting moments of everyday life, in all of its messiness, incompleteness, and contingency, the role of artists as it emerged under the modern and avant-garde movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was less about being the purveyor of some kind of “truth” via their representations, and more about complicating and even calling into question the possibility of ever seeing or representing the complete world one sees with their eyes.

The flatness, stark colour contrasts, and often incomplete visions of Ukiyo-e prints provided one of the important influences to modern artists of the late 19th century who attempted to work out a new way to make the images Baudelaire was calling for. Turning, for example, to artists such as Edouard Manet, Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (see image comparisons below), we can see the influence of Ukiyo-e prints in the way content and form shifts in these artists works away from more traditional, figurative, and mimetic representations, towards the flat, divided, and unmodulated colour palettes of the Japanese. As I tell my students, new ways of making art cannot come out of a vacuum, and we now know that these artists were very much studying the work of Japanese printmakers when formulating new directions for their art practice.

It was with this rich context in place that I planned a visit to one of the most important museums and workshops of Ukiyo-e printmaking in Japan, the Hiroshige Museum of Art in Shizuoka City not far from the famed Mount Fuji, on the south coast of Japan. At the museum, which houses one of the largest collections of Utagawa Hiroshige’s prints, I was able to finally view a wide range of Ukiyo-e prints in both painted and printed form, and learn much more about the printmaking process that effectively placed affordable artworks in the homes of Japanese people for several centuries. At the time of my visit, there was a special exhibition of Ukiyo-e prints from the early 19th century depicting samurai and geisha entertainment culture that would further influence later artists of the era the Impressionists would be looking at (see my photographs below). We were also able to see side by side comparisons of Japanese prints and Van Gogh works where the undeniable influences and even borrowing were apparent. Finally, the museum also encouraged visitors to dress up and perform as subjects in their own virtual Ukiyo-e print, complete with kimonos and a well lit space suitable for photographing and sharing. As one of the guides told me, it was the intention of the museum to encourage active participation in a visual culture that gave visibility to everyday people and their lives.

Another fascinating section of the museum was the exhibition of contemporary art works influenced by Ukiyo-e print culture. Notable among them were the work of two UK artists. The first artist, Emily Allchurch, uses photographic collage to rework one of Hiroshige’s famous prints of Mount Fuji in Tokaido Road (2013), while the second artist, Carl Randall, and his work titled Mihni no Matsubara (2016), depicts crowds of selfie-taking young people and tourists, a contemporary subject matter, explored through the formal conventions of oil painting. I enjoyed examining these works up close and seeing how the museum made space for contemporary art works such as these to continue the conversation linking Ukiyo-e print culture to a global modern world with its fascination for the ephemeral, the urban, and the everyday.

Before leaving the museum, we learned that in the coming week a new exhibition featuring world famous Japanese-street artist Lady AIKO was set to open, featuring collaboration with onsite craftsmen to produce an original woodcut. I cannot express how sad I was to miss this amazing show. Later, the museum was kind enough to send me the press package for the exhibition titled LADY GO! AIKO x EDO Girls Collection that included the following description:

“Hiroshige Museum of Art meets globally active street artist, AIKO, for the first collaboration
ever! A collection of works representing the unique world of contemporary Eshi, AIKO, and
Ukiyo-e that feature women depicted by Utagawa-style Eshi including Hiroshige, Toyokuni
III, and Kuniyoshi will be featured at this exhibition. Highlighted works we may feel casually
familiar with include a giant wall art by AIKO exhibited for the first time in Japan, “America
no Yume”, which is created with techniques of Ukiyo-e Hanga, and Edo girls fashion that
appear in Ukiyo-e of the Tōkaidō and Kabuki. We hope you enjoy the world of “Girls” loved
by many generations of the Edo period to today."

The vivid poster for the Lady AIKO collaborative exhibition on this spring at the Hirsohige Museum of Art.

The show features two large rooms including one featuring prints from the collection displaying the life of girls depicted in Ukiyo-e prints, and the second room with the large scale mural The Tale of Mr. Skull and Mermaids (at the top of this page)—a work that AIKO first showed in Brooklyn, inspired by the intersection of “pop culture” of the Edo period and that of contemporary New York—and the original woodcut AIKO created with the museum titled American Dreams (featured in the above poster). I hope one day to see this work in person as well (Japan, I will be back!) but it is clear that the legacy of Ukiyo-e lives on in the way that the medium was clearly intended.

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

April 08, 2018

We are finally back from our whirlwind travels through China and Japan, a trip that exceeded all expectations! In the coming weeks, I will be dedicating some posts on some specific art and architecture related topics related to my visit, but I wanted to bookend this week's round-up with a look at Art Basel Hong Kong, an event that I sadly missed by only a few days but shaped much of the art world conversation at precisely the moment I was on this trip. In fact, it is notable if you look at the Instagram feeds of many of the art world types I recommended in a recent post how many of them are touring major Asian cities since late March to survey the evolving art scene. I highlight @thingsizzyloves account in particular, as she has been posting spectacular art images this past week from Japan-- a place that I also sought to feature on my own feed as much as possible.

The other benefit of the long journey to Asia was that I was finally able to catch up on many movies and television shows that I had held in reserve for the air travel. At the top of my list was Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird, two beautiful films I had missed at VIFF, and All The Money in the World, a movie I have been wanting to see for some time since it follows the story of art collector J. Paul Getty and the kidnapping of his grandson in the 1970s. This is a story I had only heard about in passing, and being a huge fan of the Getty Institute and collection in LA, the story ended up blowing me away for lifting the veil on the corruption and ugly reality of the senior Getty. Without spoiling the movie and new television series Trust (debuting tonight on FX) and also based on the Getty story, suffice it to say that anyone interested in Getty's museums, art collections, and overall legacy will learn a great deal about the real story behind the man and the family. Eye-opening on every level, and an important part of the larger conversation regarding the intersection of art and the ultra wealthy. Enjoy this week's links and I will be back soon with some posts related to my Asia trip!

"Spotlight on… Art Central in Hong Kong"

theartnewspaper.com

"How Corporations Harness — and Hijack — the Idea of the Museum"

hyperallergic.com

"What’s Your Favorite Color? With Art Palette, Google Hopes to Repeat the Success of Its Viral Face-Matching App"

artnet.com

"What About the Breakfast Club? Revisiting the Movies Of My Youth In the Age Of #MeToo"

newyorker.com

"Unknown or Unreal? The Shadow on Some Russian Avant-Garde Art"

nytimes.com

"Judge Throws Out Closely Watched Lawsuit Against the Agnes Martin Authentication Committee"

artnet.com

"Why the Artist Who Created Erica Haskard’s Artwork Loves The Americans’ Fictional Painter"

slate.com

"Impressions of Art Basel in Hong Kong (VIDEO)"

ArtBasel

"Forgotten Feminisms: An Appeal Against ‘Domestic Despotism’"

nybooks.com

"Adrian Piper: A Synthesis of Intuitions, 1965–2016 | MoMA LIVE (VIDEO)"

moma

Detail from Banksy's new mural that appeared in New York this past week depicting the imprisonment of Turkish journalist Zehra Doğan.

Weekly Flipboard Links and Media Round Up

March 18, 2018

As I post my weekly round-up, we are boarding a plane to embark on a whirlwind Asia trip with stops in Hong Kong, Xiamen, Shanghai, Beijing, Hakata, Kyoto, Shimizu and Tokyo-- a trip that has been in the works for almost a year, and one that I have been looking forward to and eagerly anticipating from the moment it was finalized. As it will be our first visit to China and Japan, I have been diligently researching the urban scene in each of our stops and enjoying the opportunity to learn more about the contemporary art scene we hope to glimpse while on the ground. Japan, in particular, has been at the very top of my travel bucket list for years and was the catalyst for this trip. Japan is a place that I have long wanted to visit for a million reasons related to the modern design, visual and urban culture, architecture, fashion, and the strong emphasis on everyday aesthetics the Japanese are famous for. I have also spent time studying the influence of Japanese art on developments in European modernism, so I am particularly excited for this leg of our journey.

China was a later addition to this trip, and it is a place that I am admittedly fascinated by but also deeply ambivalent about. As a teenager in 1989, watching the Tiananmen Square protests and aftermath on TV in the same year as the fall of the Berlin Wall was both a life altering and critical turning point in my life. Looking back, I can mark this time as especially pivotal in how I eventually came to understand my own activism, research interests in the avant-garde, and the strong beliefs I formed in upholding liberalism, human rights, freedom of speech, and the role of artists, activists, and journalists in civil society. Over the years, I have been fortunate to have many students from China in my classroom, all urging me to see the country for myself, and to separate out the current politics from the long-standing culture and history that shapes the nation. At the same time, I have had students and friends from Hong Kong openly sharing how the city has been impacted since the handover to China in 1997 and describing how distinct and special the people of Hong Kong are. I have much to see and I am beyond excited to start this journey with an open mind and an open heart, and look forward to sharing what I see in the weeks to come. Enjoy the links, and happy Spring Break!