Marcel Dzama: Even the Ghost of the Past

Currently on view at David Zwirner in Chelsea is Marcel Dzama's Even the Ghost of the Past, a richly metaphorical display of two-dimensional, three-dimensional and video work. Dzama's works are populated by a bizarre cast of characters that resemble illustrated story book characters that have been variously recontextualized and manipulated to depict scenes that are both whimsical and disturbing. In addition to works on paper he also has created a number of diorama scenes where painted ceramic figurines populate stage-like vignettes that bring to mind a narrative of some kind.

Dzama has chosen to directly reference the work of Marcel Duchamp in one of his diorama scenes entitled Even the Ghost of the Past. The piece is constructed almost identically to Duchamp's Etante donnes, 1969 in which a a brick facade and door are installed into the wall of the gallery space. Duchamp's piece is itself full of mystery given it was produced long after he had given up art for chess. Given the fact that Duchamp's piece was and remains an enigma, Dzama's recreation and modification of it can be seen as an attempt to decipher once again this strange work of art. The painstaking process of recreating much of Duchamp's original piece must have given Dzama some insight as to the possible meaning and motivations behind Duchamp's work. Dzama's modifications are limited to placing both a nude male and female in the scene, as opposed to Duchamp's solitary female nude and the inclusion of a fox behind the unconscious couple. This revised scene has a more allegorical or storybook quality that seems to offer an explanation to Duchamps piece. Moreover, Etant Donnes and Dzama's partial reconstruction of it in Even the Ghost of the Past provides a sort of precedent that allows Dzama's other diorama pieces to work within. It establishes a frame work through which to understand the entire show. This is evident in the subtle curved entry way into the darkened room where the diorama and film work can be seen. This arched entry is nearly identical to the doorway in both Etant Donnes and Even the Ghost of the Past. Therefore in proceeding through the exhibition one can imagine themselves going inside the world that had been previously restricted to the view from the peep hole.

Gerhard Richter at Dia: Beacon

First, a little about Dia: Beacon - opened in 2003, Dia: Beacon houses some of the most important works of art by conceptual and minimalist artists of the 60's and 70's. Unlike many traditional museums, Dia created its exhibition spaces, the Riggio Galleries, with particular artists in mind, giving them a large say in the display of their work when possible. Also, each gallery is devoted to a single artist which greatly enhances the experience of work. I think of Dia: Beacon as a Utopia for artists; they are totally committed fulfilling the artist's wishes and they are prepared to fund large scale and unconventional projects.

Gerhard Richter's installation at Dia, entitled Six Gray Mirrors, consists of 6 immense gray mirrors that are mounted to the walls of the gallery with steel supports, each angled downward slightly. This piece, like much of the work in Dia: Beacon appears to be an articulation of the act of looking. While the mirrors reflect the viewer and the surrounding architecture they also have a deadening effect due to their gray color. There is no infinite reflection as one would normally expect; rather, the mirrors more closely resemble large scale photographs or monochromatic painting. The gray has an odd deadening effect in that everything it does reflect seems to be embedded in its surface in a way that is very different from a traditional mirror. This should not be surprising given Richter's long interest in both the photographic image and monochromatic color palettes. By altering the scale, presentation and color of the mirrors Richter is able to comment on what the mirror is able to accomplish and what it means to look.

Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim

Using a car bomb as his point of departure, Cai has created Inopportune: Stage One, 2004, a monumental installation at his retrospective in the Guggenheim Museum. The piece, which is composed of a number of cars suspended in mid-air with colored rods of light protruding out from the car bodies, rises from the first floor up through the open atrium to the 6th floor. The first car is positioned normally at entrance lobby and each successive car rises up the atrium, tumbling in what look like individual frames from a movie clip. The final car is upright and placed on the ramp of the top floor as if nothing had ever happened. The piece is striking, beautiful and somewhat intimidating. Like much of Cai's other work this piece presents itself as spectacle ready to be consumed by the viewer. Cai's choice to make such a colorful and beautiful work about a car bomb is rather compelling. He appears to be challenging our understanding of beauty and violence, perhaps even equating the two in some way. However, despite the fact that the piece is based on a car bomb I do not see much tension in the work. Actually, for me the work is more of a piece of fantastic spectacle and beauty than a commentary on or reinterpretation of our values of beauty and violence. Inopportune: Stage One is so precisely stylized, executed and presented that any potent reference to violence is gone. I find it more entertaining than thought provoking. Although the artist may claim that the use of violence as entertainment is precisely the point, I feel that amongst the carnival like atmosphere of the retrospective there is little opportunity for the piece to be seen as a commentary on our love of beauty and violence. It simply becomes part of that world rather than standing out from it.

Pillow Fight Video

Here's some video from the pillow fight in Union Square last saturday.

Jasper Johns: Gray

While the color gray may seem like an unusual theme for a painting exhibition, the latest show of Jasper Johns work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows how a single color can be pushed beyond its traditional use in studies or sketches. Johns' use of the color gray has spanned his entire career, from the 1950's until the present. I found the two works, False Start, 1959 and Jubilee, 1959 to be the most interesting for their similarity and dramatic difference. While False Start is extremely bright and colorful, Jubilee is mute, done in monochromatic gray. Were it not for the slight differences in composition and the visible brush work Jubilee could be mistaken for a black and white photographic reproduction of False Start. However, the photograph and its properties seem to be implicated in the arrangement of these two pieces in the exhibit - they are right next to each other. What can be gained from this reference to photography? I first think of the reductive quality of the photograph as well as the opportunity it affords for meticulous study. John's gray paintings have the feeling of studies, although not in an incomplete or sketch-like sense. Rather, they are works of art that directly study and address their media - paint, ink, canvas, wood - and their physical presence before the artist. Therefore, John's use of Gray is a profound formal choice that allows him to experiment with the physical and material qualities of the work of art without letting color distract him or the viewer from the consideration of the importance of the physical attributes of his chosen media.