JEFF KOONS at The Whitney, & Rockefeller Center, NY.

One of the most famous & popular living artists today, last year, JEFF KOONS also became the most expensive when his orange Balloon Dog sculpture sold for $58.4 million at auction. 

Tomorrow his major 35 year retrospective opens at NY's Whitney. Taking over 5 floors, (more space than the museum ever devoted to any single artist, including Rothko, Hopper or Georgia O’Keeffe,) it's the final show before the Museum moves down to its new building in Chelsea. Also this week his large scale public sculpture with real flowers, Split-Rocker, is unveiled at the Rockefeller Center. 

Making art out of kitsch & ready mades since the 1980s, Koons has been slammed by some critics, praised by others. Now Popeye, a Gorilla, Hulk Elvis, the Pink Panther & other toys (luckily he has 6 kids) join his early radical vacuum cleaners & footballs in glass vitrines.    

The overall effect is seductive, shiny & big. Koons loves glitter; loves colour. He also loves giant-size kittens & big bows, and all that sentimental stuff so appealing to the public.  "He's making rich people buy this shit" was one comment at the crowded opening.  And true enough on the second floor we find  Banality, a series of man-sized kitsch figurines unveiled in 1988 which made Koons the neo-Pop god that he is today. Memorable in its ormulo gold is Michael Jackson & Bubbles, 6 feet of porcelain. 

Koons is a Chicago graduate. Arriving in NY in 1976, he got a lowly job at MoMA, There is saw  Duchamp.  Skint, he began making art out of cheap inflatable toys. The rest is history!

I first saw Koons in action at the 1990 Venice Biennale. A master of publicity, this soft spoken, clean-cut guy with the choir-boy face had attached himself to La Cicciolina,  the controversial soft porn star (& MP - only in Italy!)  Making art as well as wopee, his Venice Aperto pieces depicted them having it off in various poses. Looking at the images on show at the Whitney one sees how young he was. Now 59, older, wiser & richer, his recent work is larger, more shiny but based on ancient Greek & Roman antiquity. 

He may now use advanced CT scans & digital imaging, yet Metallic Venus is just as shiny as it walks a fine line between low & high art, original & copy, traditional & modern.  Above all he celebrates excessive commercialization; merchandising at its peak. 

 Koons at the Whitney

Going chronologically from ground up, each gallery is devoted to one theme or subject: 13 in total: Luxury, Made in Heaven, Easyfun, Ethereal, Celebration etc. All simple concepts and greeting card words. He says there is no hidden meaning in his work.  

Totaling 150 works, (he has 100 assistants) they range from 1979 Inflatable Flowers & painstaking super-realist oils of food  to minimalist mirrors like a red  Kangeroo 1999 created after his disaster with the soft porn Made in Heaven pictures and sculptures. 

He married La Cicciolina in 1991. It ended badly when she abducted his son. The Easyfun mirrors were a reaction to these problems, and are his only later move away from his beloved over the top baroque style. 

Amid all the fancy frolics, these crisp, cool animal faces stand out, as do the early 1980 pristine neon & vacuum cleaners in their antiseptic chambers. "Won't guess what kritics are gonna say. But lines will be around the block every day. Krazy art world," comments Phyllis Tuchman.  Until 19 October. 

To coincide with this, Koon's weird 37ft high outsize flowering sculpture, Split Rocker, (a giant toy horse adorned with 50,000 plants) is at the Rockefeller Center while Sothebys, who have recently gone retail, show a $8m orange Elephant. 

http://news.artnet.com/art-world/jeff-koonss-emsplit-rockerem-rocks-rockefeller-center-49284?utm_campaign=artnetnews&utm_source=062714daily&utm_medium=email

The Koons artworks in the Whitney retrospective are worth a cumulative $504m!

WHISTLER in DC & HUDSON. Kiki Smith & Co in Hudson. The FRICK in NYC. GSA, Will Maw & Ashley Cook in Glasgow. 

I did my dissertation on Whistler many years ago. A first love. I have not seen the current major show: An American in London: Whistler & the Thames, in DC, but as my good friend Margaret MacDonald of Glasgow Uni, had a hand in it, it's bound to be good. 

Whistler was 25 when he settled in Victorian London in 1859, depicting the docks, bridges, workers, sailers, clippers, of the greatest port in Europe in all its detailed bustling activity. He lived within sight of the river & over time, captured its many moods. In the 1870s his style became atmospheric, almost abstract. These famous impressionistic "Nocturnes" are among the 80 paintings, etchings, lithos & drypoints which make up this lovely show which focuses solely on the Thames. 

For those not in the US, Glasgow's Hunterian Museum has arguably the world's 2nd best Whistler collection - which also has great portraits. 

It's these portraits, with their subtle, sombre tones & arrangements in grey & black, that have influenced Aline Smithson's striking photo portraits of her 85 year old mother in profile, titled Arrangement in Green & Black. 

"The idea sparked when I came across a small print of Arrangement in Gray & Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother by Whistler at a garage sale. The composition made me ponder the possibilities of using it in a photographic series. Within an hour, at two other yard sales, I happened upon a leopard coat & hat, a cat painting & a chair similar to the one in Whistler's painting. A sign to proceed."

Taken with a Hasselblad, the photographs incorporate traditional photography techniques on hand painted silver gelatin prints. "My patient mother posed for 20 shots before she died. This series allowed us to be together. My mother brought her formal side to the portraits -she was very proper, but at home had a wicked sense of humour & fun. These portraits reflect her dignified self, but also show she was game. The series encapsulated everything I love - searching for props in flea markets, setting up the backgrounds & styling. The whole series was a total joy."

Like Whistler, Smithson is  influenced by the Japanese concept of celebrating a singular object."I tend to isolate subject matter & look for complexity in simple images." 

See these great pix on the poignancy of ageing at Davis Orton Gallery Hudson, NY.  

Hudson has a big advantage for such a small place. It's only 2 hrs from NYC and lots of artists live here abouts. 

Locals, the famous Kiki Smith, & Valerie Hammond, plus Kiki's sister Seton Smith have a superb 3 person show at Historic Hudson's 1812 Plumb- Bronson House. Beautifully installed by the artists themselves, the work both benefits from the amazing architectural spaces & derelict walls, and enlivens the house itself. 

Valerie Hammond

Kiki's large scale drawings of girls - often in pairs - are strangely arresting, and perfectly at home here. Seton's semi-abstract photos of architectural motifs could have been made specially for the house, (they are not!) while Valerie's miniature dresses and spooky hands echo the Victorian setting. 

Kiki Smith installation

Kiki

Quite the most successful installation I have seen in years. 

The elegant Federal-style Bronson House, a National Historic Landmark in need of huge restoration & fundamental repairs, was built in 1812 for a wealthy Hudson merchant who established a tow-boat business on the Hudson River. The house was extended in 1839 & 49, including a spectacular 3-storey elliptical staircase. "The House captures a seminal decade in the development of the Hudson Valley Picturesque, which, during the 1840s & 50s, became the dominant national style.   Abandoned & neglected, it was almost demolished. Now $100,000 matching money is needed to leverage $300,000 in grants.

These 3 artists have contributed a great deal by their show. My only objection is the title - "3 Women Artists". For heavens sake!  I look forward to the next show:  "Three Men Artists"   Hope they make as good a job.

IN NYC the famous FRICK is making waves with a proposal to expand via a new 6 story wing. Expansion is all the rage in the US but maybe not a great idea here. The Frick is a joy because of its relatively small, intimate, town house mansion original setting & garden. True, it's exhibition spaces are not ideal, but SIX stories seems excessive. The recent Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring did of course cause queues along 5th Ave & 70th St, but that's a one-off.

The current enigmatic beauty, Parmigianino's Turkish Slave, (on loan from Parma) is not such a draw. Yet this small show in which she is surrounded by handsome Renaissance men, 2 painted by Titian, another by Bronzino, emphasizes what show-stoppers are in the Frick's own collection. 

Little is known about the lady, except that she is not Turkish & not a slave! Curator Aimee Ng, herself a beauty, hopes the exhibition will throw some light. "I think she's a poet!" There are no Parmigianino portraits in American museums so this is a rare chance.  www.frick.org

 Titian

Back in Glasgow, GSA students affected by the horrendous fire, show a single piece of digital work in the McLellan Galleries. 

Single handed, artist ASHLEY COOK does a great job curating, organising & promoting Scottish printmakers.  She curates Glasgow's The Brunswick Brutti Ma Buoni plus Gandolfi. www.cafegandolfi.com/bar-gandolfi/     in  Glasgow. 

Recent prints there by Will MAW, titled "Half Life"  refer to nuclear physics plus our ever changing global situation. 

 Radio Brazil by Will Maw RWA

A Royal College graduate, with long term connections to Glasgow, Maw has been busy completing two high-profile commissions: a suite of ten prints for Standard Life Investment’s London offices at The Gherkin was completed in April 2013 and a two-year project comprising of a suite of 21 prints and a portfolio edition for Coutts Bank was completed in July of the same year.  The large-scale ‘Departures’ works were made and exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy (RWA) in Bristol prior to Maw’s appointment as an Academician in 2013. www.cafegandolfi.com/bar-gandolfi/

 by Ashley Cook 

Ashley's own always enticing, colourful prints are at The Brunswick Brutti Ma Buoni. She is also exhibiting in Barcelona at Sala Ramona Carrer Amistad. Busy girl!

The MAGIC OF the MACK 

Watching Glasgow School of Art burn, from nearly 4000 miles away via BBC, was a devastating experience, shared I know by many thousands of people. Maybe hundreds of thousands, because unlike most iconic buildings, GSA is a working school, a much used beloved place. Graduate Fran Lightbound put it best: 

It’s difficult to put into words how a building can mean so much, to so many, in so many ways. Those of us who studied in the Mack had the amazing privilege of making it ours for four years: in there, we grew as artists & as people. It was a friend, a home, a constant source of inspiration. The Mack was – and is – at the heart of so much: for GSA, and for Glasgow."

And I may add, for Scotland & internationally too. But like other much used places, people & possessions -  taken for granted. In the outpouring of lament & comment, international photographer David Eustace makes a vital point. The building's primary purpose is to educate & encourage. As he points out, GSA was founded as "an institution to create memories & a force for creative spirits to go forward. All that surely is not lost in a fire? Moreover for students, there's a valuable lesson. Life is about hiccups and how we deal with them. All that GSA has offered CAN never simply be lost in a fire."

Five weeks ago I gave GSA Archives the last of my handwritten annotated drafts from 30 years art criticism. As I watched the flames rage I was glad all my photographs too were not there. My cousin, in Silicon Valley since the 1970s, emailed assuming I had "a duplicate or backup copy." Ha!  In 1979/1980 & thereafter nothing is scanned, nothing duplicated. I worked on the kitchen table scribbling in pencil, biro, 2 small children at my elbow, on tatty bits of paper. A work in progress, annotated, crossings out, telephone numbers & all. 

So now for me & all the staff & students it's a waiting game. As Eustace says, it's given us all a new, heartfelt & grateful appreciation of the fire brigade. 

WE all have our memories. So here are some of mine. 1966 first visit to the Mack; 1968 & a breathtaking Mackintosh exhibition in Edinburgh; 1980 Tony Jones as new director, 1981 Tom Joshua Cooper arrives; 1982 dinners there with Lord Gowrie, dinners in the Library with Eric Hagman & the chairman of Clydesdale Bank, meeting Duane Michaels in the Directors Office & later at the Dakota NY; making a film for STV with Bob Clyde for Cyril Gerber's 70th B-day exh in the Mackintosh Museum - amazingly saved by the Firemen. The road closed for all the 20 Degree show openings I covered for the Herald 1980-1999. The Tafners, who endowed the CRM archivist position for Peter Trowles. Curating an IBM show for 1990 in the Mackintosh Museum, which my mother attended. Setting eyes on my American husband for the first time in the Mackintosh Museum in 1996. Dugald Cameron in his office; Barbara Rae & David Donaldson in their studios; Jenny Saville, Douglas Gordon, Alison Watt as students. My son's degree show in 1999 in one of the very studio rooms, high ceilinged, beautiful, that may now be destroyed; being photographed there & in the wonderful Library by the Herald in January 2014 for my archive gift story. 

How many times have I run up & down those front steps in 45 years? How many times have u done the same

The latest hopeful news is that things inside GSA are not as bad as they could have been, without the resourceful firemen. The world famous Library is totally lost. I am told, "the good is good, the east wing is safe. The bad is appallingly bad. The library is completely destroyed. Think apocalyptic."  Water damage also an issue, a river pouring down the museum.    Library from above.  Around 200 firefighters have been involved in the operation, which at its height saw 16 appliances at the scene, the Scottish Fire Rescue Service said. But already there are promises of significant restoration money from government etc.

today. 

And never again will we take the Mackintosh building for granted - if we ever did.   

For GSA fund raising for the building - secure. thebiggive.org.uk

JACK SHAINMAN Gallery, Chelsea, New York & Kinderhook 

Is KInderhook the new Chelsea?  So remarked my husband at a festive, upbeat, exuberant & crowded opening of successful gallerist Jack Shainman's huge, upstate venture. The weather was idyllic, the venue - an old school - enormous, the art exciting, & Nick Cave's wild tribal performance outside perfect for locals and art world folk alike. Joie de vivre indeed!

Cave performance

 Jack's School

By a fluke 12 years ago I found our perfect house, (1794 with 3 acres and a river) 10 mins from Hudson. I had no idea where I was, had never been to the area before, & fell lucky. The house was meant for us! I was told to avoid Hudson (guns & drugs) which was the case in the 1960s but now the town is an upscale centre for restaurants, galleries & antiques, even a few boutiques. NYC is just 2 hours away by train so is popular with New Yorkers & NY artists.

Clare, Phillip + Brent from Flowers Gallery NYC 

 By comparison Hudson area studio space is cheap. Recently the famous Marina Abramovic established her Institute in Hudson - a major coup for the town. 

       

         Cave installation

Last Saturday nearby Kinderhook village moved into play with Shainman's 30,000 sq ft building with lofty 24ft ceilings & gracious spaces, converted by Spanish, Granada-based architect Antonio Jiménez Torrecillas.  About 600 people surged from basement ex-gym to top floor galleries looking out onto trees & quiet main street. A solo NICK CAVE display of exotic & strange glitter encrusted, richly embroidered totem-like "Sound Suits" plus beaded, circular wall pieces & elaborate compilations of junk shop china birds, beads & necklaces filled the spaces with a riot of colour & sparkle. 

Upstairs a more serious assortment of bricabrac addressed the issue of black slavery & the mindless racist translation into 19th & 20th century ornaments for a white family mantlepiece. Cave who is professor at Chicago Art Institute School & is African American, is better placed than most to comment. 

 The event continued onto the stage outside with wild tribal dancers all wearing Cave's famous "Sound Suits" cavorting in the shape of horses, vodoo men & monsters. Broadway was left behind!

The School will also act as storage & display of the Gallery's many African, India & Latin American artists who work large scale, like El Anatsui whose bottle-cap tapestries are huge. Shainman explains “We have rented space in Bushwick, but  it can take 90 mins to get there in traffic. Here, it's so beautiful, clients won't mind a two-hour trip.

 Shainman has a house nearby where he keeps horses & rides dressage. He bought the school for $550,000 but heating bills were massive. So he installed geothermal underfloor heating - a triumph, he says. Locals who worked on the project came on Saturday, along with many former students & parents - who loved its transformation. A happy event all round.

 This area is rich in cultural institutions, including Mass MoCA, The Clark Art Institute, The Williams College Museum of Art, the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Dia Beacon, Storm King, Hudson River School painter Frederic Church’s Olana estate, + of course Abramović in Hudson. Shainman will only add to this! www.jackshainman.com

Nick Cave

Nick Cave (born 1959 in central Missouri, USA) is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, & performance artist. He is best known for his Soundsuits: wearable fabric sculptures that are bright, whimsical & other-worldly. He also trained as a dancer with Alvin Ailey. He resides in Chicago & is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago

SPRING AUCTION season in NEW YORK: Picasso & Leonardo DiCaprico

The NY Spring season of mega auctions is under way. What does it all mean? 

Sotherby's is just a few blocks away & Christies very near, so off we went. 

"How the art world has changed!" says my husband, an auction veteran for 50 years. Even in 15 years I have seen a shift. 

But it looks as if things are really in upheaval. As an excellent Ft piece by John Gapper  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1d20e4b6-d47c-11e3-bf4e-00144feabdc0.html.  points out there is dirty work at the crossroads. 

Last Tuesday saw a 1932 Picasso sell for $28 million & a Monet waterlily "Japanese Bridge" 1918 for 14m. 

But as the Ft tells us, this may not be the real figure. And 14m seems a snip when this week's Richter is estimated at 25-35 million with Jeff Koons' Popeye sculpture even more. Then there's  Christies's Bacon triptych 3 studies of John Edwards (1984)" estimated $80 million.

The Tuesday sale was slow & boring. Majority bidding on the phones, little actual excitement. Many key works did not sell, Too overpriced. Gone the gowns & smart attire; gone the anticipation of live bids & a room bristling with competition. 30% of the buyers were from Asia, all invisible. The real glamour nowadays lies in the vast doorstep catalogues with their immense glossy research. The installation for the 4 or 5 day viewing is another is spectacle, an art form in itself.  And maybe the fact that Leonardo DiCaprico was there!   www.sothebys.com

The auction houses - a duopoly- have recently turned themselves into art dealers.  Currently 2 separate selling exhibitions fill Sotheby's second floor. 43 Dubuffet paintings & sculptures, $65,000 to $3.5m  + 25 works by Vasarely: Op Star (today everyone's a star), 85,000-half a million. There is a price list but u have to ask. Again the installation is stunning, & almost overwhelms the art. 

Not missing a trick, there's new jewellry by Anish Kapoor & Botero's wife, Sophia Vari, for sale. As it was US Mother's Day I tried on a few Kapoor rings which he makes in editions of 10 to 100 with the London goldsmiths firm of .....  Gold & blue enamel my choice! 

So where does this leave the vast vast majority of artists? Sadly high & dry. Since the crash the day sales are often dire, tepid events with low prices. It's still very hard to survive as an artist, unless u are among the top 12 or 15 artists with a name like Warhol or Gauguin. 

Sothebys May 7