Private View Review - Dieter Roth and Martin Kippenberger @ Hauser & Wirth - London

There were tens of openings in London last night, and all were overshadowed and shamed by Dieter Roth and Martin Kippenberger at Hauser & Wirth. Housed in the gallery’s new space at the Coppermill in Shoreditch, this show was, and is, something else. Industrial, urban, well-considered and crazed, this is an exhibition that reaches parts other galleries could only hope for. But then again, the Coppermill is a stunning space. It’s big, it’s bashy, it’s a stiff little finger to those average, whitewashed, run of the mill cohorts. Bottom line, in its entirety, this seeming chaotic yet clearly caculated show is a breath of fresh air. But then again, gallerist Ivan Wirth is no average art dealer. This is a man that opened his first gallery at 16. A man who’s ranked as one of the most powerful in the art world. A man, who, barely into middle age, owns four galleries worldwide. Kind of makes you feel a little inadequate really...

But enough of Wirth and on to last night’s phenomenal show. What made it so different? Well, an overwhelming vibe of obsessive production, of commotion, of what it means to be an artist. Still, all this is no big surprise given that the gallery's initial space is filled by work from Dieter Roth, with installations, assemblages, drawings, paintings, collages and who knows what else. These are shown at the Coppermill almost as one piece. At least that’s how it felt to me. Maybe it was the crowd, pulling the whole thing together, or simply the fact that there was such an incredible amount of work on show. Yet, having seen Roth a couple of years back at PS1 in New York, I know for a fact that, while his work may be frenzied, it can be exhibited in a clean-cut way. Nonetheless, Hauser & Wirth has embraced Roth’s pandemonium, making things feel all cool and crude and industrialised (in an organic way, of course...).

Martin Kippenberger takes up the second space of Hauser & Wirth. Now, don't be too disappointed... His notorious over the top antics are absent here. His sense of the absurd, passion for pandemonium, ability to shock and offend are nowhere to be seen. Not that this is a problem – after all, Kippenberg, like Roth, passed away several years ago, so any shock tactics have all been seen and heard of before. They are already old hat has beens. Yet his work on show – several canvases – large, small and in-between – his fabulous ‘Martin go stand in the corner, shame on you’ (left), and a central installation, ‘Now I’m going to the big birch wood, my pills will soon start doing me good', appear rather claming beside Roth’s creations. It's a little ironic, to say the least. Well, maybe it's the pills.

Dieter Roth and Martin Kippenberger are showing at Hauser & Wirth, Coppermill, 92 – 108 Cheshire Street, London E2, from 26th May – August 27.

News - Tate Modern Rehang - London

This week Tate Modern unveiled their awaited rehang. It’s a move that owes much to the museum’s collaboration with UBS. The gallery hooked up with the mega-bank for a three-year stint last year and one of the first things on their agenda was a 2006 rehang. At that time the museum felt their original grouping had become stayed. However, back when Tate Modern first opened in 2000, they set a new precedent in hanging polices at large museums. Binning standard approaches of presenting artworks historically, the Tate went for a more novel approach by displaying works by way of theme.

This rehang is a first for Tate Modern and, according to press so far, stays true to the museum’s original tactics. The whole shebang centers around 'UBS Openings: Tate Modern Collection', which features across Levels 3 and 5 of the building and focuses on four significant stages of twentieth century art; Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism; Surrealism, Surrealist ‘tendencies’; Abstract Expressionism, European Informal Art and Minimalism.

In its entirety, the rehang and its grouping sounds incredible. Stunning. Awesome. A real treat for aficionados, art lovers, tourists and any random passer-by who fancies a casual gander. An astonishing 40% of the works are new to Tate Modern’s illustrious walls, including Roy Lichenstein’s ‘Whaam! (above), while 20% of the pieces are new acquisitions from fairly cultish and frankly remarkable talents; Guerilla Girls, Christian Marclay, and John Baldessari to name but a few. Of course, this rehang can't fail but to be a success. Visitors can expect to experience major works from Sol Le Witt, Rachel Whitbread and Warhol. They’ll be able to get up close and personal with pieces from Picasso, Anish Kapoor, Matisse and Umberto Boccioni. And if it doen’t work, well the museum has an incredible amount of work in storage and with their ability to win over wealthy would-be sponsors, another rehang is always an option. However, given the press coverage so far that’s a move, which won’t be happening for some time yet.

Showing - Lisa Stefanelli and Jon Flack @ Mark Moore - California

Since graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, Lisa Stefanelli has established herself as an abstract talent with a cool eye for the organic. Represented by Mark Moore in California and Pierogi in New York, she’s reliable and steadfast in her style. Her paintings that depict great graff-like swirls, flawlessly painted on blank-ish backgrounds, are extremely easy on the eye. However, they’re not so simple that they leave you standing cold. Indeed, they're quite remarkable as Stefanelli has managed to take a clean-cut yet continually morphing formula and turn it into something quite kaleidoscopic. Bottom line, what she does looks effortless, but something so perfect, well, there’s no way these works are easy to create.

This month Mark Moore presents a series of new works from Stefanelli. These include ‘Wifery’ (Wifery II, above) and ‘Turn Pike’, which stay true to her lovely loopy signature style – a style that undoubtedly finds some sort of rooting in Stefanelli’s past persona as a competitive figure skater.

While Mark Moore has Stefanelli doing her thing in the Main Gallery, over in the Project Room he offers up a collection of works from emerging talent Jon Flack. A figurative artist with a trippy urban edge, Flack has exhibited at several New York galleries including 31 Grand and Nest, while this particular show will be his first West Coast exhibition. His paintings are immaculate and exact, depicting scenes, which ponder on the cultural and spiritual sidelines of city life; Pan playing his pipe besides two kissing girls in fairy wings, no less, (Pan, above); a dead squirrel; a pigeon perching next to a worn-down statue of a dog. It’s all a little dark yet adversely reassuring; familiar, if you like. In fact, it's an oxymoron that works.

Lisa Stefanelli and Jon Flack are showing at Mark Moore Gallery, 2525 Michigan Avenue, A-1, Santa Monica, California from 20th May - 1st July.

Private View Review – Erica Eyres and Mark Moore Presents @ Rokeby – London

In April last year Rokeby opened up on Store Street in London’s WC1. Since then the gallery has gathered together a tight stable of cool, clean-cut artists including Royal College graduates Michael Samuels and Claire Pestaille. Twelve months on and Rokeby has hooked up with LA’s Mark Moore Gallery. It's a collaboration that's both savvy and significant. After all, the well-established Mark Moore is has a heavy set of artists in tow, including Alistair Mackie, Simon Willems, Allison Schulnik and Chris Tallon. These are all seriously hot talents. Willems alone has been tipped as one of the Top 100 Emerging Artists while his associates are easily as impressive.

Last night’s private view presented a double whammy opening at Rokeby with Mark Moore’s lot shacking up downstairs and newcomer Erica Eyres filing the area upstairs. It all sounds a bit of mash-up, these various talents packed into one small space, however the show was quite the opposite; well thought-out, provoking and slick. Eyres, a Canadian born, Glasgow-based artist with a sharp, dry wit, offered up two video installations and a whole hoard of small, neatly framed, black and white ballpoint pieces representing some fairly cartoonish females. Yet, it’s on film that Eyres really shines. The duo of works shown included the darkly hilarious ‘Destiny Green’ (above), a funky little snippet influenced by such cautionary true-life tales as Jocelyn ‘Cat Woman’ Brown and Jonbenet Ramsey. While the usual wine-soaked din of a private view meant the sound was hard to hear, the work’s message was as clear as it’s storyline; child beauty queen Destiny Green disappears and returns having had her face surgically removed. Fabulous. Weirdly the finally shots of a faceless Destiny gormlessly brushing her hair (well, she rather lacks expression by this stage, what with having no face and all) seems strangely reminiscent of so many overly botoxed girlies today. Funny that…

Back to Mark Moore’s crew and these guys are something else. Alistair Mackie’s ‘Egg Head’ (above), a hollow doll-style head made from eggshells, is about a precise and perfect as can be; Allison Schlulnik’s canvases, thick with paint are seemingly simple but far more complex on closer inspection, and Ryan Taber super-precise drawings gothic and mesmerising. And it’s all good. In fact, it’s damn near perfect.

Erica Eyres and Mark Moore Presents are showing at Rokeby, 37 Store Street, WC1 from 16th May - 20th June 2006.

News – Warhol’s Torn Soup Can Sells For $11.8 Million – New York

Andy Warhol’s ‘Small Torn Soup Can (Pepper Pot)’ (1962) sold for a superb $11.7 million at Christie’s last week. The work, which was painted as opposed to printed, was bagged by Larry Gagosian, who apparently picked the work up for LA’s billionaire collector Eli Broad. The piece was sold as part of a $143.2 million lot and was expected to sell at a slightly higher price of $15 million.

News – Artwork and Delivery Driver Disappear – US

A six foot nine ex-con with a suspended driver’s license has disappeared along with seven Milton Avery works. The paintings, said to be worth around $1.5 million, were on their way to the Avery estate in New York following an exhibition at the Boca Raton Museum. You’ve got to wonder how Patrick McIntosh was hired for the job of delivering the works. What, without a license and a little theft record going on, there were, surely, more likely choices for the trip to New York. Nonetheless, he got the post, yet somehow, never quite managed to reach the destination. With that kind of audacity, you almost want him to get away with it. However, McIntosh also legged it with his fiancé’s (assumedly now ex-fiancé) jewelry, a pretty lowly crime to say the least – after all, surely a diamond ring would be pennies next to a couple of major artworks. Still, never mind eh, a 6’9’ man driving a budget van full of Avery’s shouldn’t be too hard to miss.

News – Picasso’s ‘Dora Maar au Chat’ Sells for $95.2 Million – World

Picasso’s ‘Dora Maar au Chat’ (1941) has become one of the highest priced paintings to be sold at auction, going for a whacking great $95.2 million at Sotheby’s. While you could buy a small country for this price, those who witnessed the sale seemed more interested in the buyer's mannerisms. The Sotheby’s regulars, unimpressed with the buyer's paddle waving, took him for a novice. While he may not have had particularly adapt paddle-wielding skills, as it turned out, this man could likely purchase Sotheby’s entire back catalogue. The founder of Russia’s Standard brand, the country’s biggest selling vodka, Rustam Tariko is rumoured to be worth some $870 million, so really, who cares how he fares with a paddle.

News – Pete Doherty’s Blood Paintings – London

Almost a week after pictures of Pete Doherty, either injecting or removing a syringe from the arm of an out-cold girl, were published, his crew are cashing in on the press. While Doherty has come up with a weird excuse for the syringe stunt – something along the lines of ‘I needed her blood for a painting’ – there’s an exhibition of his blood-works in the pipeline. Apparently these are to be sold off for £1000 a pop, although for those who can’t wait, the pieces can be viewed online for, surprise-surprise, a small fee, at Balachadha.com.

News – Matt Stokes Wins Beck’s Futures - UK

Video artist, Matt Stokes has won the fifteenth annual Beck’s Futures Prize. The £20,000 award was judged by a prestigious panel that included Jake and Dinos Chapman, Cornelia Parker and Yinka Shonibare. Voting also tied up with a new online public system, while the outcome leant predominantly in the favour of Stokes’ work. His seven-minute film, ‘Long After Tonight’, which documents a 1960s northern soul evening, will be on show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, until the 14th May.

Showing - Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part Two @ MOMA – New York

Currently on show at MOMA, ‘Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part Two’ is, as the name suggests, the second offering of the aforementioned collection. Showcasing works created from the end of the nineteenth century to the present, this installation submits ‘Digital’, ‘Figures’ and ‘Constructions’ and, alike its predecessor, focuses on the visual relationships, which exist between artworks. Artists on show include John Cage, Roy Lichtenstein, Vito Acconci and Henri Matisse.

’Transforming Chronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part Two’ takes place at MOMA, 11 West 53 Street, New York from 10th May - 2nd October.

News – Dusanka Komnenic Wins ‘AsylumNYC’ – New York

Serbian artist Dusanka Komnenic has won the ‘AsylumNYC’ prize, organised by Martin Rosengard of Wooloo Productions. The competition saw ten foreign artists present a performance based work at the White Box Gallery, New York. In this, those involved each created a fake detention centre with the help of white tape. Dusanka is an instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and graduate of the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. As winner of ‘AsylumNYC’, she’ll be granted free aid from an immigration lawyer, who will hopefully help her secure a three year visa to the US.