Art Agenda reviews: Taryn Simon, Judith Hopf, Santiago Sierra, and more
The group show: it’s the mainstay of most galleries summer programs. Recent reviews by Chris Sharp, Anna Gritz, Adam Kleinman, Kevin McGarry, and Tyler Coburn demonstrate how seasonal timing has yielded rare curatorial liberties: be it concepts that imbricate the immaterial in material realities or the ever more present surface-level similarities. Paradoxically, the looseness of these shows’ concepts serves up unusual humor, tongue-in-cheek word plays, and the chance to select a cross section of artist circles and generations, as Gritz writes of Lemoncello’s “We Love You.” Group show, we love you. To be sure, solo shows have not gone unnoticed, as Steven Squibb takes a close look at Santiago Sierra’s latest at Team Gallery, New York, and Arnaud Gerspacher hones in on Taryn Simon at Almine Rech, Paris, among others.
We’ll have our shutters pulled down for the month of August, but we’ll be back in September with reviews of Natascha Sadr Haghighian at Carroll / Fletcher, London, Simon Starling at Casey Kaplan, New York, Lucy McKenzie at Galerie Micheline Szwajcer, Antwerp, and Aleksandra Mir at Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, and many more.
Recently on Agenda:
Taryn Simon’s “A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII,” Almine Rech Gallery, Paris
May 25–July 28, 2012
Arnaud Gerspacher shows us how the viewer is complicit in the serialized portraits of Taryn Simon’s “A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters I–XVIII” at Almine Rech Gallery, Paris.
“Sinking Islands,” LABOR, Mexico City
July 14–August 31, 2012
Tyler Coburn sinks his teeth into the heady notion of art not needing us in “Sinking Islands” at LABOR, Mexico City.
“Stand still like the hummingbird,” David Zwirner, New York
June 28–August 3, 2012
Alan Gilbert examines the “provocative tensions” beneath the “Postconceptualism cool” of the works in the group show, “Stand still like the hummingbird” at David Zwirner, New York.
“Steel Life,” Michael Benevento, Los Angeles
May 25–July 28, 2012
Kevin McGarry unleashes a plethora of associations and allusions to the industrial material of steel in the group show “Steel Life” at Michael Benevento, Los Angeles.
Judith Hopf’s “A Sudden Walk,” kaufmann repetto, Milan
May 17–September 8, 2012
Barbara Casavecchia yearns for a “longing from all the prescriptive grammars of seeing and reacting to Art” in Judith Hopf’s “A Sudden Walk” at kaufmann repetto, Milan.
“Dogma,” Metro Pictures, New York
June 28–August 10, 2012
Adam Kleinman takes us for a walk through a group show with a “slightly political bark” at Metro Pictures, New York.
“We Love You,” Limoncello, London
May 16–June 30, 2012
Anna Gritz deems “We Love You” at Limoncello, London, another show of “artists artists like,” yet still a “well-tempered hodgepodge with the occasional highlight.”
Angelo Plessas’s “Temple of Truth,” Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens
May 30–September 22, 2012
Marina Fokidis stands before the alter of science and technology in Angelo Plessas’s “Temple of Truth,” a new age temple of Extropism at Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Athens.
Yona Friedman’s “handbuch” CNEAI= Paris at Chert & Motto, Berlin
June 28–July 14, 2012
Kimberly Bradley discovers the “cheat sheet” to the “offbeat urban planner” Yona Friedman at Chert & Motto, Berlin.
Santiago Sierra’s “NO, Global Tour,” Team Gallery, New York
June 7–July 27, 2012
Stephen Squibb describes how “controversy” becomes yet another “-ism” of the institution, and, despite it all, is pleasantly surprised by Santiago Sierra’s new film No, Global Tour at Team Gallery, New York.
Kelley Walker, Galerie Catherine Bastide, Brussels
June 2–July 21, 2012
Maaike Lauwaert connects the dots between an apple, a rhino, a beetle, and a bug in Kelly Walker’s show at Catherine Bastide, Brussels.
Robert Kinmont’s “Wait,” RaebervonStenglin, Zürich
June 8–July 28, 2012
Aoife Rosenmeyer waits alone in front of some roads well-taken, re-discovering land artist Robert Kinmont at RaebervonStenglin, Zürich.
Arturo Herrera’s “Series,” Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago
May 10–June 23, 2012
Michelle Grabner tells us how Arturo Herrera makes “Ground Beef” and “Scot-Tissue” work wonders on a billboard just outside of his show at Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago.
Martin Kippenberger’s “The Raft of the Medusa,” CAROLINA NITSCH, New York
May 4–June 23, 2012
Media Farzin takes a look at one of Martin Kippenberger’s last series of works and the invisible body of “painting as parody” behind them at CAROLINA NITSCH, New York.
“Glaze,” Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris
June 7–July 28, 2012
Though setting out to do too much, Chris Sharp determines that “Glaze” at Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris, is successful as a “comprehensive survey of the current scene in London.”
Art Agenda’s exhibition announcement service distributes press information on select international exhibitions of contemporary art.
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